Economic Outlook

Profitability is always a major concern when selecting a pretreatment method. As mentioned previously, pretreatment is the second most expensive procedure in the processing of lignocelluloses into various commodity bioproducts. A careful economic analysis is essential in order to choose the best pretreatment method for a particular biomass and a specific product. The economic analysis is usually made after experimental data has been gathered from the laboratory or from a pilot study. 

TABLE 3.4 Summary of the Advantages and Disadvantages of Different Methods for Pretreatment of Lignocellulosic Biomass (Alvira et al., 2010) 

Biological Degrades lignin and hemicellulose Low energy consumption Low rate of hydrolysis 

Milling Reduces cellulose crystallinity High power and energy consumption 

Steam explosion Causes lignin transformation and hemicellulose solubilization Cost-effective Higher yield of glucose and hemicellulose in the two-step method Generation of toxic compounds Partial hemicellulose degradation 

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As OPEC s share of the world oil supply market continued to fall in the 1990s, they began taking steps to better coordinate production with iron-OPEC producers such as Mexico and other members of the Independent Petroleum Exporting Countries (IPEC). By exchanging information, and undertaking joint studies of issues of common interest, the hope was to stabilize prices and improve the economic outlook for all oil producers. This collaboration between OPEC and major non-OPEC producers helped raise oil prices to over 27 a barrel in 1999 from a low of less than 13 in 1998. 

OECD Economic Outlook 76 167-173 NN (2000) Ciba Opens New Quinacridone Plant Capping 180 Million in Investments. Chemical Market Reporter 257 7 Neumann K, Schwindt C, Trautmann N (2002) Advanced production scheduling for batch plants in process industries. OR Spectrum 24 251-279... 

Although the economic downturn of 2001-2003 was accompanied by massive losses on the stock markets, this development did not reflect to the same degree in the prices paid for acquisitions in the specialty chemicals sector. Since at the same time the economic outlook for most specialty chemicals markets offered considerably lower growth expectations than in the 1990s, major acquisitions at high multiples seemed an increasingly unattractive option for value generation. 

Adams, G., Slinsky, S., Boyd, S., and Huffman, M., The Economic Outlook for U.S. Cotton, 1996 edition. Economic Services, National Cotton Council of America, Memphis, TN, 2005. 

Thus no matter how the analyses are made, the return on investment is certainly attractive, and so regardless of the exact return, the economic outlook is very favorable. 

Meyer, L. H., Q A on the Economic Outlook and the ChtiUenges Facing Monetary Policy, Remarks before the PhUadephia Council for Business Economics, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, 1999. 

Economic outlook and projections. Any appraisal depends on the particular time and general level of economic activity. At the present time, with no allowance for a depigmentation step, the unit cost for finished polymer from a 25 000 ton/year selective dissolution facility is about half that of virgin HDPE made in a world-class plant. This unit cost includes operating costs, overheads and depreciation but excludes profit and assumes the scrap plastics to be available for the cost of bulk shipping. This estimate is qualitatively reasonable. 

Downstream Conversion Economic Outlook Future Prospects Acknowledgments References... 

Ethanol Production in the Presence of Fermentation Inhibitors Economic Outlook... 

In this chapter, the state-of-the-art developments and technological achievements of the biological route for the two important diols (2,3-BD and 1,4-BD) production have been summarized. Espeeially, the key technologies involved in the production of the two bio-based diols, including catalysis, metabohc engineering, and synthetic biology were highhghted. Furthermore, the economic outlook and future prospects on the bio-based BDs production are discussed. 

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