Economics sensitivity

Sion to our assumptions about the initial purchase price and the cost of gasoline. Figure 1 shows the LCC of the hybrid and the conventional car over the ten-year period as a function of the cost of gasoline. When gas prices are approximately 3 per gallon, the two cars cost about the same. This value is referred to as the break-even point. If gas prices reach 3.75 per gallon, the approximate cost in Japan, the hybrid car is more economical. Sensitivity analysis can also be conducted for other input variables, such as initial purchase price, miles driven per year and actual fuel economy. 

Lenhart, A. F., The TOSCO Process-Economic Sensitivity to the Variables... 

Clark, J.M. Mosquito Control Board. Massachusetts Department of Food and Agriculture, under review), a need has arisen for the detection of methoprene residues by an easy, economical, sensitive and reliable assay. 

Table VII. Economic Sensitivity Study Production Increase vs.

A further key factor which has shaped the development of contaminated land policy has been the very active property market. This is particularly noticeable in the housing sector, where the UK has both a high proportion of owner-occupation and a rapid turnover of ownership in comparison with other countries. The ownership patterns of commercial land are also relevant. Much commercial land is held for investment purposes. But conversely in the case of smaller businesses, much of the financing of business operations is provided by short-term debt secured against the value of the property assets owned and occupied by the businesses. All of these factors have made questions of potential regulatory liabilities for land contamination politically and economically sensitive. 

Ciric. A. R.. and Jia, T., Economic Sensitivity Analysis of Waste Treatment Costs in Source Reduction Projects Continuous Optimization Problems. University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati. OH, 1992. 

The chemical composition of water in relation to the Earth s crust constitutes the focus of the science called geohydrochemistry or simply geochemistry. Water quality is one of the primordial environmental factors determining which flora and fauna will thrive and which material will dissolve or precipitate. Environmental research helps gain insight into aspects such as economics, sensitivity, and relevance in pollution studies economics for the possibility of cost-effective direct measurement without complicated extractions prior to analysis, sensitivity because of an analytically more agreeable result when compared to the solid phases in soil, and relevant on account of a direct selection of the mobile phases. 

When dealing with correlations involving multiple variables, economic sensitivity analysis is essential to determine the most influential parameters. For example, feed preheat and 4% in the bottom are very sensitive to reboiling duty more than other operating parameters for the debutanizer. Getting the most sensitive parameters right in operation can get the greatest economic and technical response. 

Maintenance planning for drum shearer machine based on its reliability characteristics and economical sensitivity analysis... 

As decommissioning approaches, enhanced recovery e.g. chemical flooding processes are often considered as a means of recovering a proportion of the hydrocarbons that remain after primary production. The economic viability of such techniques is very sensitive to the oil price, and whilst some are used in onshore developments they can rarely be justified offshore at current oil prices. 

A slim hole rig weighs about one fifth of a conventional rig and its small size can open new frontiers by making exploration economic in environmentally sensitive or inaccessible areas. 

The econom/c mode/for evaluation of investment (or divestment) opportunities is normally constructed on a computer, using the techniques to be introduced in this section. The uncertainties in the input data and assumptions are handled by establishing a base case (often using the best guess values of the variables) and then performing sensitivities on a limited number of key variables. 

In order to test the economic performance of the project to variations in the base case estimates for the input data, sensitivity analysis is performed. This shows how robust the project is to variations in one or more parameters, and also highlights which of the inputs the project economics is more sensitive to. These inputs can then be addressed more specifically. For example if the project economics is highly sensitive to a delay in first production, then the scheduling should be more critically reviewed. 

When the sensitivities are performed the economic indicator which is commonly considered is the true value of the project, i.e. the NPV at the discount rate which represents the cost of capital, say 10%. 

So far, the economics of developing discovered fields has been discussed, and the sensitivity analysis introduced was concerned with variations in parameters such as reserves, capex, opex, oil price, and project timing. In these cases the risk of there being no hydrocarbon reserves was not mentioned, since it was assumed that a discovery had been made, and that there was at least some minimum amount of recoverable reserves (called proven reserves). This section will briefly consider how exploration prospects are economically evaluated. 

The economics of the arc-coal process is sensitive to the electric power consumed to produce a kilogram of acetylene. Early plant economic assessments indicated that the arc power consumption (SER = kwh/kgC2H2) must be below 13.2. The coal feedcoal quench experiments yielded a 9.0 SER with data that indicated a further reduction to below 6.0 with certain process improvements. In the propane quench experiment, ethylene as well as acetylene is produced. The combined process SER was 6.2 with a C2H2/C2H4 production ratio of 3 to 2. Economic analysis was completed uti1i2ing the achieved acetylene yields, and an acetylene price approximately 35% lower than the price of ethylene was projected. 

The question of whether to use MAbs or PAbs in an assay is a matter of assay requirements (specificity and sensitivity) and economics and caimot be answered on technical merit alone. 

Most P/M parts weigh <2.27 kg (5 lbs), although parts weighing as much as 15.89 kg can be fabricated in conventional P/M equipment. Many early P/M parts such as bushings and bearings were very simple shapes, in contrast to the complex contours and multiple levels often produced economically in the 1990s. The P/M process is not shape-sensitive and normally does not requke draft. Parts such as cams, gears, sprockets, and levers are economically produced. 

Propanol economics are sensitive to the raw material costs of ethylene (qv) and the feedstock for synthesis gas, ie, natural gas or Hquid petroleum feedstocks (qv). Natural gas-based technology is slightly more economical. 

A more economical route to MQ resin uses low cost sodium sihcate and trimethylchlorosilane as inputs (eq. 35) (395). The sodium sihcate process is initiated by acidifying an aqueous sodium sihcate solution to a pH of 2. The resulting hydrosol quickly builds molecular weight. The rate of this increase is moderated by the addition of an alcohol such as 2-propanol. The hydrosol is subsequentiy silylated by the addition of trimethylchlorosilane. This process, which is kinetically sensitive and limited to synthesizing M/Q ratios of 1 or less, is preferred when MQ resins having high (>1%) OH content are required (395). 

Since the bulk of butadiene is recovered from steam crackers, its economics is very sensitive to the selection of feedstocks, operating conditions, and demand patterns. Butadiene supply and, ultimately, its price are strongly influenced by the demand for ethylene, the primary product from steam cracking. Currently there is a worldwide surplus of butadiene. Announcements of a number of new ethylene plants will likely result in additional butadiene production, more than enough to meet worldwide demand for polymers and other chemicals. When butadiene is in excess supply, ethylene manufacturers can recycle the butadiene as a feedstock for ethylene manufacture. 

The suitabiHty and economics of a distillation separation depend on such factors as favorable vapor—Hquid equiHbria, feed composition, number of components to be separated, product purity requirements, the absolute pressure of the distillation, heat sensitivity, corrosivity, and continuous vs batch requirements. Distillation is somewhat energy-inefficient because in the usual case heat added at the base of the column is largely rejected overhead to an ambient sink. However, the source of energy for distillations is often low pressure steam which characteristically is in long supply and thus relatively inexpensive. Also, schemes have been devised for lowering the energy requirements of distillation and are described in many pubHcations (87). 

The absolute pressure may have a significant effect on the vapor—Hquid equiHbrium. Generally, the lower the absolute pressure the more favorable the equiHbrium. This effect has been discussed for the styrene—ethylbenzene system (30). In a given column, increasing the pressure can increase the column capacity by increasing the capacity parameter (see eqs. 42 and 43). Selection of the economic pressure can be faciHtated by guidelines (89) that take into consideration the pressure effects on capacity and relative volatiHty. Low pressures are required for distillation involving heat-sensitive material. 

Heat Sensitivity. The heat sensitivity or polymerization tendencies of the materials being distilled influence the economics of distillation. Many materials caimot be distilled at their atmospheric boiling points because of high thermal degradation, polymerization, or other unfavorable reaction effects that are functions of temperature. These systems are distilled under vacuum in order to lower operating temperatures. For such systems, the pressure drop per theoretical stage is frequently the controlling factor in contactor selection. An exceUent discussion of equipment requirements and characteristics of vacuum distillation may be found in Reference 90. 

Sensitivity Analysis An economic study should pinpoint the areas most susceptible to change. It is easier to predict expenses than either sales or profits. Fairly accurate estimates of capital costs and processing costs can be made. However, for the most part, errors in these estimates have a correspondingly smaller effecl than changes in sales price, sales volume, and the costs of raw materials and distribution. 

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