Economic fears

These can arise from changes in values of process workers (e.g., an increased focus on production rather than safety, because of a fear of reduced pay or job losses) due to larger changes in society (e.g., reduced job security because of an economic depression). 

Detailed economics of individual industrial processes, including SCP processes, are usually regarded as confidential, out of fear that publication may lend advantage to competitors. In addition, economy of scale rule generally applies (that is as the production capacity increases, the cost of the product decreases), so that direct comparisons can only be made between systems of similar capacity. Some economic data on SCP processes have been published and are presented in the Resource Material at the end of this chapter. You should appreciate that the data are outdated by more than a decade, during which time substrate costs will have varied relative to each other, and technology will have improved. This means that the comparative costs presented in Table 4.13, for example, may not be now as presented there. Nevertheless the data presented do provide an outline of the economics of SCP production. The processes referred to in the Resource Material are not necessarily those mentioned in the text and so you may find some differences in detail. 

The history of penicillin, which is produced from molds, is different. Penicillin is a powerful antibacterial substance that came into extensive use during World War II. There still is no known synthetic way of producing penicillin economically. If the pharmaceutical companies had refused to mass-produce this drug by fermentation because they feared it would soon be synthesized, then millions of people would have been deprived of its healing powers, and those who could have obtained it would have spent ten to one hundred times more for it. 

Indeed, he had kept a peaceable head when many of his colleagues feared "The East." He hadn t believed that the Russian system was the main threat to Germany s economic institutions ... 

The prime objective of a business is provide a positive economic return to the owners. Therefore the economic interest of the owners should be protected for long and short range survival without fear of a potential loss of earnings. 

In the development of the rare earth industry, substitution of the rare earth elements by other cheaper processes or other substances has - and also in the future will play - an inportant role, Ihe rare earth elements were never a cheap material although they occur abundantly in nature. As we have heard, the cost of the rare earth elements rises rapidly if a specific rare earth element is required in high purity. Therefore, there arose always the tendency for users of rare earth elements to look around for a cheaper solution for an established field of application. A danger Which the rare earth industry often has learned to fear and vdiich has led to a characteristic rise and fall of economic success for rare earth enterprises. Examples of such rises and falls resulting from substitution are given below. 

In general, hcwever, one can say that vhere the optical properties, the chemical properties and the magnetic properties are used, substitution is not to be feared, vhile in the use of metallurgical and nuclear properties there is always the danger that a more economic solution of the problem can squeeze out the rare earth elements. 

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