Plant capacity, choosing

This catalytic ammoxidation process was truly revolutionary. Since the introduction of this technology, INEOS has developed and commercialized several improved catalyst formulations. These catalyst advancements have improved yields and efficiencies vs. each prior generation to continually lower the cost to manufacture acrylonitrile. INEOS continues to improve upon and benefit from this long and successful history of catalyst research and development. In fact, many of INEOS s licensees have been able to achieve increased plant capacity through a simple catalyst changeout, without the need for reactor or other hardware modifications. INEOS s catalyst system does not require changeout overtime, unless the licensee chooses to introduce one of INEOS s newer, more economically attractive catalyst systems. 

The results of using Microsoft Excel Solver (one of many possible analytical tools) on the optimal solution are shown in Figure 2.7. The results show that the optimal cost to satisfy demands can be decreased to 600,000. The key to achieving this solution is to choose which warehouse supplies customer zone C2 and thus how the plant capacity will be used. 

The electrical supply equipment is the second biggest equipment package after the mechanical equipment. The package includes the transformer/rectifier (T/R) sets and bus bars for providing DC power to the cells, the associated power factor correction equipment and harmonics filtration equipment, and the service transformers and circuitry. This equipment will typically comprise about 15 - 25 % of the cellhouse cost. The cost is heavily influenced by whether or not an electrical substation is included, and by the redundancy requirements for the T/R sets. A plant can choose to have no spare T/R capacity, partial redundancy, or full redundancy. Such cost savings must be weighed against the cost of lost production when a T/R set fails. 

Under such circumstances, companies tend to choose relatively small generating units with low capital investment per unit of capacity, which are quick to build and have a short pay-out. These choices reduce the overall risk of an investment and are today available by choosing combined cycle gas fired plants if natural gas can be obtained at competitive prices. Compared to present nuclear power plants, such units have 1/3 of capital/kw, take two, rather than four to six years to build. Being more acceptable to the public, suitable sites for such plants are also far easier to find. 

Another decision for the design engineer is the selection of the operation mode, whereby he can choose between the single- and cascade-mode of operation. In principle this is valid for multipurpose plants of medium scale, such as plants to extract spices and/or herbs. Fig. 8.1-6 gives data on the different production costs for a plant with a total extraction volume of 600 1, operated in different modes, but with the same capacity. The investigation is based on equal batch times (in our case 4 hours), equal mass-flow per kg of raw material and, of course, equal extraction- and separation conditions. 

The combinations of size classes and automation levels (cf. Fig. 18 for an example) describe the set of plants from which the model can choose when setting up new plants. As shown in the example not all theoretical combinations of capacity classes and degrees of automation might be feasible and additional, location-specific restrictions might apply. For expansions of existing plants the choice is restricted to adding production lines that fit into the production environment already in place. 

Waste disposal. In recent years, many legal restrictions have been placed on the methods for disposing of waste materials from the process industries. The site selected for a plant should have adequate capacity and facilities for correct waste disposal. Even though a given area has minimal restrictions on pollution, it should not be assumed that this condition will continue to exist. In choosing a plant site, the permissible tolerance levels for various methods of waste disposal should be considered carefully, and attention should be given to potential requirements for additional waste-treatment facilities. 

The greater the uncertainty in the market studies and the newer the technology used, the greater will be the preference for choosing a lower capacity. Many Japanese chemical companies adopt this approach and prefer to set up several plants with smaller capacities. However, lower capacities result in higher specific plant costs and therefore in higher production costs. This is represented by the following empirical relationship ... 

A least-cost-per-lane solution ignores the network structure and chooses the minimum- cost warehouse to supply each customer zone, i.e., each customer zone gets delivery from the closest warehouse. In turn, the warehouses are supplied from the closest plant subject to capacity constraints. For the network shown in Figure 2.5, the corresponding decisions regarding how much each plant produces, the quantities shipped to each warehouse, and the quantities shipped by each warehouse to customer zones are shown in the Figure 2.6. 

Network configuration The goal is to choose a set of facility locations and capacities, to determine production levels for each product at each plant, and to set transportation flows between facilities, either from plant to warehouse or warehouse to retailer, in such a way that total production, inventory, and transportation costs are minimized and various service level requirements are satisfied. 

Comments regarding the slowness of purchases in the past were made at the same meeting (January 18, 1942) by Dana Mitchell and Compton asked him and Szilard to put the matter in the form of a report to him. It was understood at that time that Murphree, the vice-president of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, was in charge of procuring the materials and it was desired to have the arrangements with Murphree clarified. Szilard also asked whether it would not be desirable to concentrate the work on the chain reaction in one place and whether it would not be advisable to choose the site for a plant with 100 watt capacity. A free for all discussion ensued on these points. A common feature of all suggestions was a desire to complete the project ahead of schedule. 

Managements may have to choose from the options such as expanding the production capacity of the existing plant, add new process units in the same premises, and set up a new unit elsewhere or revive an old plant which is not running... 

The decision to choose the most suitable asphalt plant is quite complicated. It is influenced by the market conditions related to demand and selling price of the asphalt, the typical hourly output capacity, the cost of purchasing the plant, the types of asphalt usually required to be produced, the capability of the plant to produce recycled asphalt, the amount of reclaimed asphalt (or reclaimed asphalt pavement [RAP]) to be used, the land space availability and the environmental restrictions (mainly emissions and noise). 

It was pointed out in the section on gas coolants that the heat removal capacity of helium or CO2 could be made equivalent to that of sodium by choosing appropriate coolant pressure and flow rate conditions for the gas coolant. The studies on the GCFBR have shown that the heat transfer with oxide fuel elements is not limited by the coolant when the coolant pressure is 1000 psia. Under these conditions, it is found that a net plant efficiency of 40 % can be obtained in a large GCFBR having a fuel rating of 900 kW/kg of fissile fuel, a power density of 240 kW/liter, an overall conversion ratio 1.55, and a doubling time of 8 years (see Table I). 

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