The Commercial Environment

The job for the resource manager is formidable it is not certain that even the best processes will become commercial in a competitive environment. Many external factors can cause the commercial environment to change with great effect. A few examples are the availability of cheap Mexican and Canadian gas, an Iranian shutdown of oil production, a larger OPEC price increase than anticipated, very high interest rates. 

Development plans must be much more detailed than research plans. The simple reason for this is that the commercial environment in which... 

Mintz-Habib, N., 2013. Malaysian biofuels industry experience a socio-political analysis of the commercial environment. Energy Policy 56, 88—100. 

The nucleophilicity of amine nitrogens is also differentiated by their environments. In 2,4,5,6-tetraaminopyrimidine the most basic 3-amino group can be selectively converted to a Schiff base. It is meta to both pyrimidine nitrogens and does not form a tautomeric imine as do the ortho- and /xira-amino groups. This factor is the basis of the commercial synthesis of triamterene. 

The ratio of stress to strain in the initial linear portion of the stress—strain curve indicates the abiUty of a material to resist deformation and return to its original form. This modulus of elasticity, or Young s modulus, is related to many of the mechanical performance characteristics of textile products. The modulus of elasticity can be affected by drawing, ie, elongating the fiber environment, ie, wet or dry, temperature or other procedures. Values for commercial acetate and triacetate fibers are generally in the 2.2—4.0 N/tex (25—45 gf/den) range. 

Pseudomonads also have the abiUty for xenobiotic metaboHsm and are capable of carrying out diverse sets of chemical reactions. Pseudomonas species is used ia the commercial productioa of acrylamide (qv) (18). Several operoas iavolved ia the metaboHsm of xeaobiotic compouads have beea studied. Use of Pseudomonads for the clean up of the environment and for the production of novel chemical iatermediates is likely to be an area of active research ia the 1990s. 

Histotically, the classification of PE lesias has developed ia conjunction with the discovery of new catalysts for ethylene polymerisation as well as new polymerisation processes and appHcations. The classification (given ia Table 1) is based on two parameters that could be easily measured ia the 1950s ia a commercial environment with minimum iastmmentation the resia density and its melt iadex. In its present state, this classification provides a simple means for a basic differentiation of PE resias, even though it cannot easily describe some important distinctions between the stmctures and properties of various resia brands. 

Enclosed Tubular-Type Belt Convejors. Manufacturers have been working to develop a belt that can totally enclose the material to be conveyed. This would minimize spillage and dust release iato the environment, and would eliminate the need for cleaning the belt surface. Several designs have reached the commercial stage and have been iastaHed ia iadustrial plants. A review is available (21). 

Despite the attractions of economic forces driving environmental protection, some cautions and failures have been noted. Firstly, the export of hazardous waste to countries where costs for treatment are lower enhances environmental risks during transport and has the potential for transboundary export in the event of pollution. At the same time, the loss of raw material may deprive the home market of an adequate supply of feedstock for the home-based industry. Secondly, there is considerable scepticism that self-regulation of TBT-based antifoulants could be achieved in a timely manner by the shipping industry. This is an instance where the cost benehts to one industry are born by another commercial sector, notably aquaculture. Thus, protection of the marine environment is likely to be aided by economic factors but the role of government, via taxation and standard setting, is not likely to be usurped. Public education and, in turn, pressure, can promote and support corporate environmentalism. 

Activation by a metal surface also takes place in the commercially important anaerobic adhesives. These one-part adhesives are stable in the package, but cure quickly in an oxygen-free environment such as a tightly controlled bond line. Important applications include thread-locking, sealing, retaining, and some structural bonding [111]. A representative model formulation has recently been described [112] (Fig. 3). 

Hazards and Operability (HAZOP) analysis is an accident detection and prevention technique used primarily by the chemical process industry (CPI) (Lees, 1980). Even though the CPI operates in a different regulatory environment from the commercial nuclear power industry, the goals of risk reduction while maintaining productivity are similar. 

Ionic liquid synthesis in a commercial context is in many respects quite different from academic ionic liquid preparation. While, in the commercial scenario, labor-intensive steps add significantly to the price of the product (which, next to quality, is another important criterion for the customer), they can easily be justified in academia to obtain a purer material. In a commercial environment, the desire for absolute quality of the product and the need for a reasonable price have to be reconciled. This is not new, of course. If one looks into the very similar business of phase-transfer catalysts or other ionic modifiers (such as commercially available ammonium salts), one rarely finds absolutely pure materials. Sometimes the active ionic compound is only present in about 85 % purity. However, and this is a crucial point, the product is well specified, the nature of the impurities is known, and the quality of the material is absolutely reproducible from batch to batch. 

Therefore, if processability is to be measured on a regular basis, it would be extremely useful if a piece of equipment was available that could measure the dynamic properties under realistic operating conditions. Fortunately, one piece of test equipment has been developed, which is commercially available, the RPA 2000 (Monsanto Co.), which may meet the requirements. A considerable number of investigations have been reported on the RPA 2000 [2J, that support the view that it may meet the requirements of an instrument that measures both polymer and compound processability. The work to date identifies differences in polymers and compounds. However, it is important to relate those differences to processing characteristics in the manufacturing environment. 

It IS often stated that unclear fusion tvill produce no radioactive hazard, but this is not correct. The most likely fuels for a fusion reactor would be deuterium and radioactive tritium, which arc isotopes of hydrogen. Tritium is a gas, and in the event of a leak it could easily be released into the surrounding environment. The fusion of deuterium and tritium produces neutrons, which would also make the reactor building itself somewhat radioactive. However, the radioactivity produced in a fusion reactor would be much shorter-lived than that from a fission reactor. Although the thermonuclear weapons (that use nuclear fusion), first developed in the 1950s provided the impetus for tremendous worldwide research into nuclear fusion, the science and technology required to control a fusion reaction and develop a commercial fusion reactor are probably still decades away. 

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