High value added products

As the nonwoven fabrics industry has matured and technology has become pubHcly available, emphasis in the various sectors of the industry has changed. In the 1990s, some portions of the nonwovens industry are technology driven, whereas others are market driven. A number of firms are proprietary technology based, and others are turn-key plant operations. Some corporations are commodity roU-goods producers, and others are more oriented to niche market, high value-added products. Many nonwoven produces continue the quest for new markets and more opportunities to compete with textiles, paper, and plastics. 

Worldwide primary aluminum capacity. Table 14 (35), continues to grow but mosdy in countdes where there is low cost electric power. Primary capacity in the United States, Table 15, has been reduced from 5,019 thousand metric tons in 1982 to 3,902 thousand metric tons in 1988. The United States and other developed countries are expected to concentrate mote on converting taw aluminum into high value added products. 

Electrodialysis. Electro dialytic membrane process technology is used extensively in Japan to produce granulated—evaporated salt. Filtered seawater is concentrated by membrane electro dialysis and evaporated in multiple-effect evaporators. Seawater can be concentrated to a product brine concentration of 200 g/L at a power consumption of 150 kWh/1 of NaCl (8). Improvements in membrane technology have reduced the power consumption and energy costs so that a high value-added product such as table salt can be produced economically by electro dialysis. However, industrial-grade salt produced in this manner caimot compete economically with the large quantities of low cost solar salt imported into Japan from Austraha and Mexico. 

Overview Batch processes are mostly suited to low volume high value added products that are usually characterised by common recipes, which render them amenable to sharing of equipment units. Due to their intrinsic adaptation to sudden changes in recipe, they are processes of choice in volatile or unstable conditions that have become regular in global markets. This chapter provides the background information on batch chemical processes, which constitutes the basis for the forthcoming chapters. Only the essential elements of batch plants are captured with references, where necessary, to further sources of information for the benefit of the reader. 

Pyrolysis is the decomposition of organic material due to the influence of heat. By performing controlled pyrolysis the woody biomass can be converted into high value added products, namely bio oil, formed in addition to char and gases. 

Figure 2.3 Sugar-derived high-value-added products antibiotics, vitamins, and pharmaceuticals.

It is worth pointing out that, besides o-sorbitol 19 and D-mannitol 36, other low-molecular weight building blocks have been already obtained on the ton-scale from low cost or waste polymeric carbohydrates (starch, cellulose, hemicellulose, chitin) [80, 81]. Most of these compounds are densely functionalized enantiopure molecules that can be easily converted into high-value added products, including chiral ionic liquids. Therefore, further studies are required to develop other synthetic approaches to environmentally sustainable ionic liquids based on renewable raw materials. 

The principal thrust ol Japan s joint research programs is the development of process technologies to reduce conversion costs and development of high value-added products. Energy cost reduction is a prime concern. Opportunities exist in low energy consuming polymerization and spinning... 

Finally, it may not be wise to close some higher-cost lines. They may well be devoted to high value-added products and thus operate at above average margins. 

Balachandran, U., Si. Morissette, J.T. Dusek, Ri. Mieville, R.B. Poeppel, M.S. Kleefisch, S. Pei, TP. Kobylinski and C.A. Udovich, 1993, Development of ceramic membranes for partial oxygenation of hydrocarbon fuels to high-value-added products, in Proc. Coal Liquefaction and Gas Conversion Contractors Review Conf., Pittsburgh, 1993 (U.S. Dept of Energy). 

The applications mentioned demonstrate the potential of membrane reactors for the recovery and repeated use of homogeneously soluble catalysts. For some of the examples a strong increase in the total turnover number has been achieved. First publications indicate that this technique is also being investigated by industry [58]. Due to the additional steps required for coupling as well as for the equipment necessary it might be applicable in the majority to high value-added products. On... 

Not only are petrochemicals produced on a vast scale but the diversity of materials represented is substantial. More than 3,000 petrochemicals are in current commercial production. Despite this large scale, however, only 5-6% of current oil and gas production is consumed to produce organic petrochemicals and another 4-5% for inorganic petrochemicals. It seems to be an extravagant use of a key chemical raw material to apply only 10% of it for high value-added products, many of them in recoverable or durable applications, and simply burn the remaining 90% for energy production. 

Process control of the manufacturing plants will continue to improve. There will be less material in process, the equipment will be smaller and of higher capacity so sharp control should be in place. Better control will give improved conversions and enhance product quality, especially for high-value-added products. 

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