Manufacturing-cost estimation general considerations

For more expensive enzymes the continuous use of enzymes made possible by their iimnobihsation can result in considerable savings. By comparison typical chemical catalysts represent a smaller proportion of the total manufacturing costs. Thus the catalysts used in ammonia, cyclohexane and styrene manufacture have been estimated to cost approximately only 0.7, 0.6 and 0.6% of the total production costs respectively. Thus biocatalysts are still in general comparatively expensive compared with chemical catalysts. 

For this reason it is not generally possible to prepare a performance match for a competitive product on the basis of analysis alone. Also required is a skilled formulator who will use the analytical results as clues, rather than a recipe. For many purposes, such as estimating the manufacturing cost of a product or for determining whether patent infringement has occurred, an analysis accounting for considerably less than 100% is adequate. 

Published information for industrial scale supercritical extractions is scarce. The same general design considerations will apply as in the subcritical case, through mass transfer rates and equilibrium loadings can be higher. Capital costs are not so easily estimated since the pressures involved fall outside the cost correlations for some of the units. (Use of manufacturer s quotations is recommended, even in the early stages of costing.)... 

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