Production volume increase

There is mote than one way to make PV systems cost effective, ie, by making mote efficient and less expensive devices, by stimulating the market toward higher sales in order to justify production volume increases to achieve economies of scale, and by combinations of these options. In any case, modules must operate tehably for long periods of time. 

PAFC systems are commercially available from the ONSI Corporation as 200-kW stationary power sources operating on natural gas. The stack cross sec tion is 1 m- (10.8 ft"). It is about 2.5 m (8.2 ft) tall and rated for a 40,000-h life. It is cooled with water/steam in a closed loop with secondary heat exchangers. The photograph of a unit is shown in Fig. 27-66. These systems are intended for on-site power and heat generation for hospitals, hotels, and small businesses. Another apphcation, however, is as dispersed 5- to 10-MW power plants in metropolitan areas. Such units would be located at elec tric utihty distribution centers, bypassing the high-voltage transmission system. The market entiy price of the system is 3000/kW. As production volumes increase, the price is projec ted to dechne to 1000 to 1500/kW. 

Under Article 7(1), if the country that receives a notification concludes that further data and information are needed for performing health and environmental assessments of the new substance, it may require the notice submitter to provide those data. This may involve completion of the Annex VII base set (for PMN s that invoke the "escape clause"), and/or performance of further tests specified in Annex VIII, in addition to those contained in Annex VII.(24) Annex VIII specifies a series of sub-chronic and chronic tests, as well as other extensive (and expensive) data requirements that may be required as a part of followup notifications once a chemical enters commercial production and its production volume increases substantially. 

This figure is conservatively projected to increase twenty-fold in the next five years as production volumes increase and new applications for these materials are realized. 

As shown in Fig. 18, the production costs of a-Si H modules are projected to decrease significantly as production volume increases (Kuwano and Ohnishi, 1981). At the 50-MWp yr 1 production level, half of the total cost is in the materials. The cost of the capital equipment can be less than 10% of the total manufacturing costs (Firester and Carlson, 1983). 

In 2003, the average price of starch blends was around 3.0-5.0 per kg. In 2005, the average price range of starch blends was down to 1.5-3.5 per kg. PLA is now being sold at prices between 1.37-2.75 per kg compared to a price range of 3.0-3.5 per kg three years ago, and is now almost price competitive with PET. The average cost of an aliphatic aromatic co-polyester has fallen from 3.5-4.0 per kg in 2003 to 2.75-3.65 per kg in 2005. Prices are expected to fall further for all biodegradable polymer types over time as production volumes increase and unit costs fall. 

Production volume production volume increased from 108 000 tonnes in 1996 to 121000tonnes in 1998. 

In the past, a steady production volume increase is observed after releasing a new product and followed by long stable production phases and finally a slow ramp down. Nowadays, production volume climbs much faster to the first peak then drops it reaches a second peak after promotion activities and often a product face lift in subsequent releases. 

The evolution of chemical processes and process equipment is closely related to the methods and apparatus used in the chemistry laboratory. At the early stage of evolution of chemical industries, process steps in the manufacture of a chemical mimicked the steps used in the chemistry lab in its preparation. Most of these processes were batch processes. Some of these evolved into continuous processes as the production volumes increased. Batch processes occupy the preeminent position, even today, in the pharmaceutical and fine-chemical industries. Some of the process equipment - stirred vessels, packed towers, filters, and so on - are the up-sealed versions of the apparatus used in the chemistry laboratory of yesteryear. Process intensification (PI), which represents a paradigm shift in equipment as well as in process design, takes advantage of advances in reaction engineering and transport phenomena in the design of equipment and processes (as opposed to the mere scale-up of the apparatus of the chemistry lab and mimicking the step in the laboratory preparation). 

In order to tackle this issue and to be able to forecast a production cost for thin Pd-based membranes, it is important to introduce the concept of economics of learning in understanding the behaviour of all added costs of membranes as cumulative production volume increased. Such economics of learning or law of the experience may be expressed more precisely in an algebraic form ... 

Continuous emulsion polymerization processes offer, in some cases, an economical method for commercial production of polymer colloids. Continuous reactors are destined to become more important as product volumes increase and as the marketplace becomes more competitive. The development of a continuous reactor system, however, is a path full of possible pitfalls which must be successfully handled. The present "state-of-the-art" is not adequate to permit a risk-free design of a continuous system from batch data. Hence studies in small-scale continuous systems are recommended for those who plan continuous processes. 

As the production volume increases, total costs increase. However, as production increases, the total cost per unit tends to decline as fixed costs are spread out over a higher number of units produced. This phenomenon is called economy of scale. Economies of scale become apparent when the cost to produce a unit declines as the volume of production increases. If the cost per unit increases as volume increases, this is referred to as diseconomies of scale. 

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