Process economic Subject

The effect of temperature, pressure, and oil composition on oil recovery efficiency have all been the subjects of intensive study (241). Surfactant propagation is a critical factor in determining the EOR process economics (242). Surfactant retention owing to partitioning into residual cmde oil can be significant compared to adsorption and reduce surfactant propagation rate appreciably (243). 

The SRC-I process, developed by the Pittsburg Midway Coal Mining Co. in the early 1960s, was not really a hquefaction process rather, it was designed to produce a solid fuel for utility applications. Only enough liquid was produced to keep the process in solvent balance. The bottoms product was subjected to filtration or solvent extraction to remove ash and then solidified to produce a low-ash, low-sulfur substitute for coal. However, the value of the product was not high enough to make this process economically viable. 

Cobalt-based Fischer-Tropsch catalysts are the subject of continuing interest as large-scale Gas-to-Liquids plants come on line. Fernando Morales and Bert Weckhuysen (Utrecht University, the Netherlands) look specifically at the effects of various promoters for these catalysts, particularly Mn. The effect of these promoters in controlling the activity and selectivity of the overall reaction can be critical in the overall process economics. This chapter also looks at new spectroscopic techniques that have recently been used to study the effects of these promoters. 

A technical and economic appraisal of petrochemicals spans several large subject areas petroleum and oil industry economics, petrochemical refining and applied chemistry, chemical engineering and process economics. Unfortunately these distinct fields carry their own units. The petroleum industry generally uses American units based on standards defined at 60° Fahrenheit and are generally the units used in the US chemicals industry. Most chemists and academic engineers use... 

Due to the confidential nature of the subject we are unable to present here specific economic data about actual furnace conversions. Instead, a generalized analysis of oxy/fuel process economics is given based on the following premises ... 

Laser isotope separation is one area where multistep excitation and ionization has great commercial potential. The research and development efforts in atomic vapor laser enrichment of 235y are a major factor contributing to the current research activities in laser excitation and ionization processes. The first paper on selective multistep photoionization of atoms was published in 1971. (.62) Since then numerous review articles( 15, 16 >L7,63 >54, (i5) ave been written on laser isotope separation and, in each review, there is a section on atomic vapor photoionization processes. The subjects of economics and critical parameters have been well covered in previous reviews and will not be discussed in detail here. We... 

Discussion of processes for industrial separation of uranium isotopes cannot be as complete as the discussion of deuterium separation in Chap. 13. The detailed technology of the most economical and most promising processes is subject to security classification and to proprietary restrictions. Nevertheless, processes for enriching uranium can be described in sufficient detail to make their principles clear and to illustrate the similarities and differences between them and processes for separating isotopes of light elements. 

By conducting a feasibility study the bottlenecks in the economics of production processes employing plant cells in suspension culture can be assessed. Data from the few studies published on this subject have shown the need for further research. In general the productivity of plant cell cultures per amount of reactor volume per unit time has to be increased considerably in order to make most processes economically feasible. In this section these aspects are discussed in more detail. 

The organic chemicals that fall into this category and can be produced by fermentation include ethanol, butanol, acetone, 2,3-butane-diol, and glycerol. 2.3-Butanediol and glycerol fermentations have been developed at laboratory and pilot-plant scales, but have not been commercialized. Ethanol, butanol, and acetone have been produced industrially by fermentation, but chemical synthesis is the manufacturing practice of choice for economic reasons. However, as price and availability of ethylene and propylene as feedstocks for the synthetic processes become subjects of concern, there is renewed interest in examining the fermentation pocesses as means of producing all or a portion of the future needs of ethanol, butanol, and acetone. 

The component C in the separated extract from the stage contact shown in Eigure 1 may be separated from the solvent B by distillation (qv), evaporation (qv), or other means, allowing solvent B to be reused for further extraction. Alternatively, the extract can be subjected to back-extraction (stripping) with solvent A under different conditions, eg, a different temperature again, the stripped solvent B can be reused for further extraction. Solvent recovery (qv) is an important factor in the economics of industrial extraction processes. 

Trade secrets may be any type of information, eg, formulae, patterns, compilations, forms, programs, devices, techniques, and processes, as weH as any patentable subject matter. However, in order for it to be a trade secret, there must be definite economic value in the information not being known to the pubHc or readily determinable by a third party. 

Devising an economical method of producing agricultural-grade potassium phosphates from potassium chloride and wet-process phosphoric acid has been the subject of intense agricultural—chemical research (37—39). Limited quantities have been produced industrially. The impact on the overall quantities of phosphoms and potassium compounds consumed by the fertilizer industry is small. Because potassium phosphates are an excellent source of two essential fertilizer elements, this research is expected to continue. 

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