War risks may disrupt minor commodities' global supply

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Government Intervention ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Electronics Industry ◽  
Commodity Markets ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Supply Disruptions

Subject Possible supply disruptions for sensitive commodities. Significance The buildout of excessive capacity in most commodity markets has resulted in a multi-year price collapse across the board. For some metals crucial to the electronics industry, the production increases have come from low-cost mines in conflict-ridden areas. Excessive reliance on minerals from geographies prone to armed conflicts risks potential supply disruptions. Impacts The electronics industry will still rely on raw materials sourced from conflict regions, while technically complying with regulations. Supplies from mature mining jurisdictions will dwindle as long as prices remain low. Government intervention may be needed in order to regulate the oligopolistic segments of some commodity markets.

Bamboo Waste-based Bio-composite Substance: An application for Low-cost Construction Materials

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-48
Author(s):  
Teodoro Astorga Amatosa ◽  
Michael E. Loretero
Keyword(s):  
Composite Materials ◽  
Sea Water ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Single Layer ◽  
High Strength ◽  
Green Technology ◽  
Experimental Medium ◽  
Natural Treatment

Bamboo is a lightweight and high-strength raw materials that encouraged researchers to investigate and explore, especially in the field of biocomposite and declared as one of the green-technology on the environment as fully accountable as eco-products. This research was to assess the technical feasibility of making single-layer experimental Medium-Density Particleboard panels from the bamboo waste of a three-year-old (Dendrocalamus asper). Waste materials were performed to produce composite materials using epoxy resin (C21H25C105) from a natural treatment by soaking with an average of pH 7.6 level of sea-water. Three different types of MDP produced, i.e., bamboo waste strip MDP (SMDP), bamboo waste chips MDP (CMDP) and bamboo waste mixed strip-chips MDP (MMDP) by following the same process. The experimental panels tested for their physical-mechanical properties according to the procedures defined by ASTM D1037-12. Conclusively, even the present study shows properties of MDP with higher and comparable to other composite materials; further research must be given better attention as potential substitute to be used as hardwood materials, especially in the production, design, and construction usage.

Low-Cost Raw Materials Synthesized Na 2.9375PS 3.9375Cl 0.0625 Solid Electrolyte

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Wang ◽  
Nachuan Yang ◽  
Yi Shuai ◽  
Yunpeng Zhang ◽  
Kanghua Chen
Keyword(s):  
Solid Electrolyte ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Low Cost

The Economics of Commodities and Commodity Markets

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Ielpo
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Commodity Prices ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Commodity Markets ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Demand And Supply ◽  
Spot Prices ◽  
Supply Shocks ◽  
The Business Cycle

This chapter covers the economic fundamentals of commodity markets (i.e., what shapes the evolution of the price of raw materials) in three steps. First, it covers the theories explaining why the futures curve can be upward or downward sloping, an essential element for commodity producing companies. The evolution of inventories and hedging pressures are the two dominant sources of explanation. Second, the chapter reviews the fundamentals of commodity spot prices: technologies, supply, demand, and speculation. Production costs draw the long-term evolution of prices, but demand and supply shocks can trigger substantial variations in commodity prices. Third, the chapter presents how commodity prices interact with the business cycle. Commodities are influenced by the world activity but can also have a material impact on it.

scholarly journals Design of Low-Cost and High-Strength Titanium Alloys Using Pseudo-Spinodal Mechanism through Diffusion Couple Technology and CALPHAD

Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (11) ◽  
pp. 2910
Author(s):  
Chaoyi Ding ◽  
Chun Liu ◽  
Ligang Zhang ◽  
Di Wu ◽  
Libin Liu
Keyword(s):  
Diffusion Couple ◽  
Titanium Alloys ◽  
High Throughput ◽  
Volume Fraction ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
High Strength ◽  
High Yield ◽  
Α Phase ◽  
Cr System

The high cost of development and raw materials have been obstacles to the widespread use of titanium alloys. In the present study, the high-throughput experimental method of diffusion couple combined with CALPHAD calculation was used to design and prepare the low-cost and high-strength Ti-Al-Cr system titanium alloy. The results showed that ultra-fine α phase was obtained in Ti-6Al-10.9Cr alloy designed through the pseudo-spinodal mechanism, and it has a high yield strength of 1437 ± 7 MPa. Furthermore, application of the 3D strength model of Ti-6Al-xCr alloy showed that the strength of the alloy depended on the volume fraction and thickness of the α phase. The large number of α/β interfaces produced by ultra-fine α phase greatly improved the strength of the alloy but limited its ductility. Thus, we have demonstrated that the pseudo-spinodal mechanism combined with high-throughput diffusion couple technology and CALPHAD was an efficient method to design low-cost and high-strength titanium alloys.

scholarly journals Molecular design revitalizes the low-cost PTV-polymer for highly efficient organic solar cells

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junzhen Ren ◽  
Pengqing Bi ◽  
Jianqi Zhang ◽  
Jiao Liu ◽  
Jingwen Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Organic Solar Cells ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Molecular Design ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Stable Conformation ◽  
Chemical Structures ◽  
Aggregation Effect ◽  
Industrialization Process

Abstract Developing photovoltaic materials with simple chemical structures and easy synthesis still remains a major challenge in the industrialization process of organic solar cells (OSCs). Herein, an ester substituted poly(thiophene vinylene) derivative, PTVT-T, was designed and synthesized in very few steps by adopting commercially available raw materials. The ester groups on the thiophene units enable PTVT-T to have a planar and stable conformation. Moreover, PTVT-T presents a wide absorption band and strong aggregation effect in solution, which are the key characteristics needed to realize high performance in non-fullerene-acceptor (NFA)-based OSCs. We then prepared OSCs by blending PTVT-T with three representative fullerene- and NF-based acceptors, PC71BM, IT-4F and BTP-eC9. It was found that PTVT-T can work well with all the acceptors, showing great potential to match new emerging NFAs. Particularly, a remarkable power conversion efficiency of 16.20% is achieved in a PTVT-T:BTP-eC9-based device, which is the highest value among the counterparts based on PTV derivatives. This work demonstrates that PTVT-T shows great potential for the future commercialization of OSCs.

scholarly journals Encapsulation of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients in Lipid Micro/Nanoparticles for Oral Administration by Spray-Cooling

Pharmaceutics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1186
Author(s):  
Carmen S. Favaro-Trindade ◽  
Fernando E. de Matos Junior ◽  
Paula K. Okuro ◽  
João Dias-Ferreira ◽  
Amanda Cano ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oral Administration ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Pharmaceutical Formulations ◽  
Spray Cooling ◽  
Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients ◽  
Pharmaceutical Ingredients ◽  
Taste And Odor ◽  
Cooling Technology ◽  
Simple Technology

Nanoencapsulation via spray cooling (also known as spray chilling and spray congealing) has been used with the aim to improve the functionality, solubility, and protection of drugs; as well as to reduce hygroscopicity; to modify taste and odor to enable oral administration; and many times to achieve a controlled release profile. It is a relatively simple technology, it does not require the use of low-cost solvents (mostly associated to toxicological risk), and it can be applied for lipid raw materials as excipients of oral pharmaceutical formulations. The objective of this work was to revise and discuss the advances of spray cooling technology, with a greater emphasis on the development of lipid micro/nanoparticles to the load of active pharmaceutical ingredients for oral administration.

Integrated Process for Textile Cotton Waste (TCW) Valorization: Waste-to-Energy and Wastewater Decontamination

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Ribeiro ◽  
C. Vilarinho ◽  
J. Araújo ◽  
J. Carvalho
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Removal Rate ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Calorific Value ◽  
Waste To Energy ◽  
Synthetic Wastewater ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
World Population ◽  
Cotton Waste ◽  
Textile Industries

The increasing of world population, industrialization and global consuming, existing market products existed in the along with diversification of raw materials, are responsible for an exponential increase of wastes. This scenario represents loss of resources and ultimately causes air, soils and water pollution. Therefore, proper waste management is currently one of the major challenges faced by modern societies. Textile industries represents, in Portugal, almost 10% of total productive transforming sector and 19% of total employments in the sector composed by almost 7.000 companies. One of the main environmental problems of textile industries is the production of significant quantities of wastes from its different processing steps. According to the Portuguese Institute of Statistics (INE) these industries produce almost 500.000 tons of wastes each year, with the textile cotton waste (TCW) being the most expressive. It was estimated that 4.000 tons of TCW are produced each year in Portugal. In this work an integrated TCW valorisation procedure was evaluated, firstly by its thermal and energetic valorisation with slow pyrolysis followed by the utilization of biochar by-product, in lead and chromium synthetic wastewater decontamination. Pyrolysis experiments were conducted in a small scale rotating pyrolysis reactor with 0.1 m3 of total capacity. Results of pyrolysis experiments showed the formation of 0,241 m3 of biogas for each kilogram of TCW. Results also demonstrated that the biogas is mostly composed by hydrogen (22%), methane (14 %), carbon monoxide (20%) and carbon dioxide (12%), which represents a total high calorific value of 12.3 MJ/Nm3. Regarding biochar, results of elemental analysis demonstrated a high percentage of carbon driving its use as low cost adsorbent. Adsorption experiments were conducted with lead and chromium synthetic wastewaters (25, 50 and 100 mg L−1) in batch vessels with controlled pH. It was evaluated the behaviour of adsorption capacity and removal rate of each metal during 120 minutes of contact time using 5, 10 and 50 g L−1 of adsorbent dosage. Results indicated high affinity of adsorbent with each tested metal with 78% of removal rate in chromium and 95% in lead experiments. This suggests that biochar from TCW pyrolysis may be appropriated to wastewaters treatment, with high contents of heavy metals and it can be an effective alternative to activated carbon.

Application of lean practices in small and medium-sized food enterprises

2013 ◽  
Vol 116 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manoj Dora ◽  
Dirk Van Goubergen ◽  
Maneesh Kumar ◽  
Adrienn Molnar ◽  
Xavier Gellynck
Keyword(s):  
Food Processing ◽  
Lean Manufacturing ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Food Sector ◽  
Statistical Process ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Lean Practices ◽  
The Status ◽  
Manufacturing Techniques

Purpose – Recent literature emphasizes the application of lean manufacturing practices to food processing industries in order to improve operational efficiency and productivity. Only a very limited number of studies have focused on the implementation of lean manufacturing practices within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in the food sector. The majority of these studies used the case study method and concentrated on individual lean manufacturing techniques geared towards resolving efficiency issues. This paper aims to analyze the status of the lean manufacturing practices and their benefits and barriers among European food processing SMEs. Design/methodology/approach – A structured questionnaire was developed to collect data. A total of 35 SMEs' representatives, mostly CEOs and operations managers, participated in the survey. The study investigated the role of two control variables in lean implementation: size of the company and country of origin. Findings – The findings show that lean manufacturing practice deployment in food processing SMEs is generally low and still evolving. However, some lean manufacturing practices are more prevalent than others; e.g. flow, pull and statistical process control are not widely used by the food processing SMEs, whereas total productive maintenance, employee involvement, and customer association are more widespread. The key barriers encountered by food SMEs in the implementation of lean manufacturing practices result from the special characteristics of the food sector, such as highly perishable products, complicated processing, extremely variable raw materials, recipes and unpredictable demand. In addition, lack of knowledge and resources makes it difficult for food processing SMEs to embark on the lean journey. Originality/value – The gap in the literature regarding the application of lean manufacturing in the food sector is identified and addressed in this study. The originality of this paper lies in analyzing the current status of the use of lean manufacturing practices among food SMEs in Europe and identifying potential barriers.

Feasibility of cereal straw for industrial utilization in Minnesota

2000 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.C. Wagner ◽  
S. Ramaswamy ◽  
U. Tschirner
Keyword(s):  
Animal Feed ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Cereal Straw ◽  
Industrial Utilization ◽  
Industrial Use ◽  
On Farm ◽  
And Storage

AbstractA pre-economic feasibility study was undertaken to determine the potential of cereal straw for industrial utilization in Minnesota. Specifically, utilizing straw for pulp and paper manufacture was of interest. The availability of cereal straw fiber supplies at various locations across the state of Minnesota, along with pre-processing issues such as transportation, harvesting, handling, and storage, are discussed and priced. The greatest economic advantage of straw for industrial use appears to be the low cost of the raw material compared to traditional raw materials. This also provides an excellent opportunity for additional income for farmers. The methodology and information provided here should be helpful in evaluating the feasibility of utilizing straw for other industrial purposes in other parts of the world. However, in some Third World countries, long-standing on-farm, traditional uses of cereal straws for fuel, fiber, and animal feed may limit their availability for industrial utilization.

The Preparation of High Quality CIS Films by Spraying Citrate-Capped Cu11In9 Alloy Nanoparticles Ink and RTP Process

2013 ◽  
Vol 787 ◽  
pp. 382-387
Author(s):  
Li Zhou ◽  
Yuan Kui Ding ◽  
Pai Feng Luo
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Chalcopyrite Structure ◽  
Alloy Nanoparticles ◽  
System Research ◽  
Spherical Nanoparticles ◽  
Particle Agglomeration ◽  
Energy Band Gap ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Selenization Process

A facile low-cost non-vacuum process for fabrication of high quality CuInSe2(CIS) films is described, which indicates a promising way for the application in thin film solar cells. First, citrate-capped Cu11In9alloy nanoparticles are synthesized by hot-injection method after a system research on the different reaction time and Cu-In ratio of the raw materials. From the TEM and XRD results, we can see that uniform spherical nanoparticles with dominant Cu11In9phase and less particle-to-particle agglomeration are successfully achieved in this study. Then, employing spray and RTP selenization process, high quality CIS films with dense and big grains are obtained, which show the single chalcopyrite structure and the preferred (112) orientation. An energy band gap about 1.01 eV is measured through the absorption spectroscopy measurement in our work.

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