Floors/flooring cost comparisons

The market of PP/EPDM blends has grown dramatically because of its recycling abihty and processability by conventional thermoplastic processing equipment. The unique characteristics of thermoplastic elastomer made it an attractive alternative to conventional elastomers in a variety of markets. Liu et al. showed from the experimental blends (53) that materials cost reduction of between 30% to 50% is possible in comparison to commercial products if one applies the PP/EPDM blends to the construction of a basketball court, a tennis court, and a roller hockey rink, which were estimated around 7000, 14,000, and 40,000, respectively. The cost comparison took into account the percentage of rubber or PP used in experimental blend, the exponential factor for a scale-up process and the overall surface area of the specific applications. Among many possible application of this blend two readily feasible applications are roofing and flooring. 

The results presented here are for a simplified model where capital cost is based on list costs of all equipment under study, published energy consumption, and replacement parts costs. The model doesn t attempt to quantify soft costs involved in equipment setup times, floor space consumption, downtime, etc. which appear to favor a robotic approach. The capital cost comparison is sensitive to the cost of the robot. 

The remaining liquid flows continuously to a pit outside the house and is pumped in a silo. The fertilizer value is low. Daily removal of faeces and urine promotes as well a better house climate as a lower odour emission in comparison with piggeries with underslat slurry storage. Installing this filtersystem in partly slatted floor houses straw can be used to improve animal comfort, and to reduce heating costs. 

Films. Both structural and nonstructural adhesives are commonly available in film form. Adhesives applied in the form of dry films offer a clean, hazard-free operation with minimum waste and excellent control of film thickness. However, the method is generally limited to parts with flat surfaces or simple curves. Optimum bond strength requires curing under heat and pressure, which may involve considerable equipment and floor space, particularly for large parts. Film material cost is high in comparison to liquids, but waste or material loss is the lowest of any application method. 

In tenns of initial investinent and floor area requirements, plate-and-frame filters are inexpensive in comparison to other filters. They can be operated at full capacity (all frames in use) or at reduced capacity by blanking off some of the frames by dummy plates. They can deliver reasonably well washed and relatively dry cakes. However, the combination of labor charges for removing the cakes and fixed charges for downtime may constitute a high percentage of the total cost per operating cycle. 

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