Operating Cost Analysis Research Articles

Integrated Approach for the Assessment of Strategies for the Decarbonization of Urban Traffic

This paper presents a new methodology to derive and analyze strategies for a fully decarbonized urban transport system which combines conceptual vehicle design, a large-scale agent-based transport simulation, operational cost analysis, and life cycle assessment for a complete urban region. The holistic approach evaluates technical feasibility, system cost, energy demand, transportation time, and sustainability-related impacts of various decarbonization strategies. In contrast to previous work, the consequences of a transformation to fully decarbonized transport system scenarios are quantified across all traffic segments, considering procurement, operation, and disposal. The methodology can be applied to arbitrary regions and transport systems. Here, the metropolitan region of Berlin is chosen as a demonstration case. The first results are shown for a complete conversion of all traffic segments from conventional propulsion technology to battery electric vehicles. The transition of private individual traffic is analyzed regarding technical feasibility, energy demand and environmental impact. Commercial goods, municipal traffic and public transport are analyzed with respect to system cost and environmental impacts. We can show a feasible transition path for all cases with substantially lower greenhouse gas emissions. Based on current technologies and today’s cost structures our simulation shows a moderate increase in total systems cost of 13–18%.

A Comparative Study of Non-Frost Refrigerator Over the Frost Refrigerator in Economical and Environmental Perspective

The study focuses on a comparative operation cost analysis between the non-frost and frost type refrigerator. Refrigerator is an essential equipment for food storage technique around the world. Both frost and non-frost refrigerators are widely used nowadays. However, their costing operations are not same. So the objective of this study was set to find out more economical refrigerator type that is either the frost type is economical or the non-frost type. A comparative analysis was done for both type refrigerators with the focus on the calculative results of initial cost (i.e. assembly cost, decoration cost, process cost), maintenance cost and the total 10 years’ power consumption cost. The calculated results depicted that though initial cost is found higher in non-frost inverter refrigerator, the other cost like maintenance cost as well as the overall 10 years’ power consumption cost was found to be cheaper in non-frost inverter refrigerator. Based on the experimental data it can be suggested that the non-frost with inverter type refrigerator is found to be more economical than frost type refrigerator. So it can be recommended that non-frost with inverter type refrigerator can be used in both domestically and industrially in the minimum costing rate.

Operational cost and user performance analysis of on-demand bus and taxi systems

ABSTRACT This paper presents the optimization problem of three different on-demand transit systems operated by vehicles of different sizes. This problem is aimed at minimizing the total cost of the system, which consists of the temporal cost experienced by users and the operating cost incurred by transit agencies. A compact set of estimations of the user performance and operating cost is provided, based on geometric probability. The optimization procedure allows the cost comparison of different semi-flexible services. Transit systems operated by cars (shared taxicabs) with flexible layouts are preferable for low demand densities (less than 92 pax/km2-h). For very high demand (higher than 200 pax/km2-h), bus systems with fixed layout and variable stop locations present the lowest total cost per passenger. In an intermediate domain, taxi and semi-flexible services compete among each other. The estimation of unit operating costs allows decision-makers to calculate the subsidies needed to make the system profitable.

ANALISIS BIAYA OPERASIONAL UNTUK MEMPREDIKSI LABA BERSIH PADA PT. HOLCIM INDONESIA Tbk.

AbstractThis study aims to determine the effect of operating costs on net income at PT. Holcim Indonesia Tbk. This type of research is quantitative with the type of data used is secondary data in the form of the company's income statement for the last 5 years. Data analysis techniques used are operational cost analysis, simple linear regression analysis, correlation coefficient, coefficient of determination and hypothesis testing (t test 2 parties). The results showed that operational costs did not have a significant effect on net income because this t value was smaller than t table (-1.540 <2.262) with a sig value of 0.221. Based on the calculation of the correlation coefficient of 0.664 with a strong degree of entanglement and the value of the coefficient of determination of 44.1% which shows that the contribution of the influence of operating cost variables to net income is 44.1% and the remaining 55.9% is influenced by other variables not examined in this study. Keywords: Operating Costs; Net Profit

UV-C inactivation of microorganisms in a highly opaque model fluid using a pilot scale ultra-thin film annular reactor: Validation of delivered dose

Abstract The efficacy of UV-C light for inactivating bacteria and endospores in an opaque fluid (diluted humic acid at pH 7.2, absorbance = 13.1/cm) using an annular pilot ultra-thin film (1 mm thickness) UV system was investigated in this study. The effect of fluid flow conditions on UV dose distribution was also assessed. UV dose delivery under experimental conditions was verified and validated by a bio-dosimetry method. The results revealed that efficient UV dose distribution was achieved at turbulent flow (Re > 3960) with superior (>2.6 times) microbial inactivation efficiency compared to laminar flow (Re = 1980). Verified reduction equivalent fluence correlated well with calculated UV dose. Microbial inactivation studies at commercial relevant flow-rates (159 gal/h) showed > 5 log reduction of vegetative bacteria (E. coli ATCC 25922, S. Typhimurium ATCC 13311, L. monocytogenes ATCC 19115) and >4 log reduction of endospores (B. cereus ATCC 14579) at UV-C reduction equivalent fluence (REF) of 26 and 34 mJ/cm2, respectively. Comparative operational cost analysis indicated that UV-C pasteurization was 1.3 and 14 times less costly than reported heat and HPP pasteurization, respectively.

Development and Performance Evaluation of a Dough Mixing Machine

In view of the numerous problems encountered with the manual method of mixing, an electric motor gear driven dough mixing machine was designed and fabricated from available local materials using standard engineering principles. A step turned shaft of diameters 16 mm and 32.5 mm was attached to speed reducer gearbox which engaged 1hp, single-phase electric motor to transmit torque required to effectively turn and mix the dough in the bowl. The performance evaluation was carried out, the average mixing time for dough of 3.964 kg was 7.67minutes and average mixing efficiency was 94.6% with a mixing capacity of 31 kg/hour operating at 280 rpm of the agitator shaft blade/ arm. The dough produced using the mixing machine was baked into bread and sensory evaluation was conducted and compared favourably with bread baked through hand mixing of dough at 0.05 level of significance. The results further showed that sample B was most accepted followed by sample A (control). Sample C received the least mean score. However, no significant mean difference among the bread attributes at the 0.05 level except for bread texture where samples A and D differ significantly. The cost of fabrication was ₦67,550.00(147dollars) and result of operating cost analysis on per day basis indicated that the owner of the machine can pay back the capital investment in a period of 359 days (1 year) of continuous production.

Cost Analysis of Demand-Side Generating Assets Contribution to Ancillary Services of Island Power Systems

Demand-Side Generating Assets (DSGAs) relate to existing small diesel Gensets serving the critical loads of infrastructures in unexpected electrical network interruptions. This paper investigates the exploitation of DSGA as potential suppliers of ancillary services (AS), especially in the case of isolated or weak interconnected island power systems such as in Crete. In this regard, their impact on substations’ loading reductions and associated copper losses is presented, using a substation as a case study with a typical touristic load in Crete. DSGA’s impact on such a significant part of reliability enhancement in distribution systems is evaluated, examining different scenarios of DSGA installed capacity. Subsequently, extensive research is carried out regarding the cost analysis for their access to the electrical grid providing AS, in combination with their operating cost analysis. The calculations on fuel consumption cost show that DSGA are comparable with the most expensive gas turbines of the Cretan power system. Finally, considering the capital cost for their required configurations and their fuel consumption cost, a proposal for their remuneration prices is made. The prices that arise are lower than the actual remuneration prices of other similar services such as Genset rentals for the case of the Cretan power system.

Operational performance and cost analysis of PAC/ceramic MF for drinking water production: Exploring treatment capacity as a new indicator for performance assessment and optimization

A powdered activated carbon (PAC)/ceramic microfiltration (MF) pilot was operated (24/7) in a water treatment plant during 18 months, with water from different points of the treatment line (raw, ozonated with recirculated filter-backwash waters, ozonated/pre-coagulated, filtered), the testing including MF and PAC/MF. The optimization of PAC/MF operational performance, including PAC effect analysis and pretreatment required, and a cost analysis are herein presented. A new indicator was developed and explored for performance assessment and optimization, the treatment capacity (TCp), i.e. the design flowrate normalized to membrane area and intake pressure. As expected, a higher TCp was obtained with filtered water. Non-clarified waters required alum-coagulation pretreatment to minimize membrane fouling, and achieved similar TCp results among them. PAC addition (6–24 mg/L) did not promote membrane fouling and had no or a slight positive effect on TCp. TCp integrates all key aspects of process productivity and therefore constitutes a useful indicator to balance flux, energy consumption, backwash frequency and chemical cleaning frequency. The cost functions developed for PAC/MF yielded, for the best operating conditions found for the low-turbidity, low-dissolved organic content waters tested, a total cost of 0.07–0.11€/m3 for 100,000 m3/d, including investment and operation costs.

Optimized indium solubilization from LCD panels using H2SO4 leaching

Spent liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are a secondary source of precious/strategic metals, including indium (In). The present study involved optimizing the solubilization of this strategic element from samples of indium tin oxide (ITO) glass prepared from LCD screens of computer monitors and laptop screens. The influence of operating conditions on In solubilization, as well as optimum conditions for sulfuric acid leaching were defined by a Box–Behnken-type experimental design methodology. Optimum operating conditions include a leaching step for 30 min at a temperature of 70 °C in the presence of 0.4 N H2SO4 and a pulp density of 50% (w/v). Under these conditions, the quadratic model established to predict the solubilization of In from ITO glass samples provided an In solubilization efficiency of 89.7%, which was validated experimentally (99.5%). The analysis of direct operating costs and capital costs for the implementation of such a leaching process revealed that the process is conceivable for a high-capacity plant processing ~100 t/day of ITO glass.

Mechanistic insight into ultrasound-induced enhancement of electrochemical oxidation of ofloxacin: Multi-response optimization and cost analysis

In this paper, a hybrid advanced oxidation process of sonoelectrochemical, in which ultrasound and electrochemical are applied simultaneously, has been used for the degradation of ofloxacin (bio-recalcitrant pharmaceutical pollutant). Response surface methodology based central composite design was applied to understand the parametric effects of ultrasonic power, current density, initial pH, and electrolyte dose. Enhanced ofloxacin degradation was obtained using sonoelectrochemical (≈95%) process in comparison to the electrochemical (≈60.6%) and sonolysis alone (≈7.2%) after 120 min treatment time. Multi-response optimization was used so as to maximize COD removal (70.12%) and minimize specific energy consumption (11.92 kWh (g COD removed)−1)at the optimized parametric condition of pH = 6.3 (natural pH), ultrasonic power = 54 W, current density = 213 A m−2, and Na2SO4 electrolyte dose = 2.0 g L−1. It was revealed that •OH radicals contribute major to the ofloxacin degradation reaction among the other oxidizing agents. Degradation of the ofloxacin followed pseudo-first-order kinetics with a higher reaction rate, which confirmed the synergistic effect of 34% between ultrasound and electrochemical approaches. The degradation pathway of ofloxacin removal was elucidated at optimum condition by the temporal evolution of the intermediate compounds and final products using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectroscopy (GC-MS), liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy (LC-MS), high-resolution mass spectroscopy (HR-MS), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) coupled with energy dispersed X-ray (EDX) were used to determine the morphology of electrodes. Operational cost analysis was done based on the reactor employed in the present study.

Sterilisation technology for disposable diapers waste using double jacket and centrifugal speed principles

Globally, disposable baby diapers demand continues to grow alongside with an increase in the birth rate and child (aged 0-3) population. On average, diapers consumption is around 6-8 pieces per baby, giving approximately 6,300 diapers for the next 2.5 years. Furthermore, each diaper contains 35% of organic and 65% of inorganic materials. The presences of inorganic materials pose a detrimental effect on environment as it needs around 500-800 year to breakdown or degrade. This study was aimed to enhance the valorisation of disposable baby diapers waste by implementing sterilisation technology. The technology was based on a double jacket and centrifugal speed principles, enabling to effectively and safely sterilise the diapers waste. The comparison with the conventional technology was carried out based on the following parameters: total number of E. coli, Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), turbidity, pH, temperature, and operational cost analysis. The results indicated that the proposed sterilisation technology has superior performance than conventional sterilisation technology. The findings also confirmed that the sterilised diapers waste can be further reused for making other valuable products, such as eco-friendly handy craft or souvenirs. Economically, the implementation of the proposed technology can support the creation of green creative industries, particularly in Indonesia.

Analysis of Operational Delay and Additional Investment Costs, As An Investment Consideration

Purpose: This paper aims to Analysis of Operational Delay and Additional Investment Costs, As an Investment Consideration: Case in Malang Pandaan Toll Road.
 Design/methodology/approach: The method used is statistic-descriptive and the design used is cross sectional.
 Findings: 2 hypotheses are while the other is accepted.
 Research limitations/implications: Variables considered in this study are electronic word of mouth, brand image, brand trust, and interest in saving. The scope of work of the Pandaan Malang Toll Road project has a length of 38 + 488 km, passing through two regions in Figure 1.
 Practical implications: Results show that from the 2 hypotheses proposed.
 Originality/value: This paper is original.
 Paper type: This paper can be categorized as a case study.

Pollution reduction and operating cost analysis of municipal wastewater treatment in China and implication for future wastewater management

“Clean water and sanitation” is one of the 17 sustainable development goals recommended by the United Nations. To improve water quality, China had experienced a dramatic improvement in municipal wastewater treatment during 2006–2016; yet the effects on pollutant reductions have not been fully discussed. This study analyzed pollutant reductions and operating costs of municipal wastewater treatment according to an investigation including 1822 active wastewater treatment plants in operation in China. The results showed that, in 2016, a total of 505 Gg of total nitrogen, 140 Gg of ammonia, 29 Gg of total phosphorus, 1296 Gg of chemical oxygen demand and 357 Gg of five-day biochemical oxygen demand were discharged after treatment. The highest pollutant removal efficiency from municipal wastewater was observed in five-day biochemical oxygen demand, with an efficiency of 91.2 ± 6.7% (average and standard deviation), while the lowest removal efficiency was observed in total nitrogen, only with an efficiency of 65.5 ± 13.9%. The higher total phosphorus removal efficiency (80.8 ± 11.8%) by wastewater treatment could increase the ratio of total nitrogen to total phosphorus by about twice in the effluent. Water managers should focus on the potential impacts of effluents to nutrient dynamics and ecology in receiving waters. Modern perspectives on nutrient limitation in aquatic ecosystems will require more N removal from municipal wastewater to achieve the desired water quality outcomes, such as by refining operation of existing facilities, developing efficient N-removal technology and introducing standards for nutrient ratio target in the effluent discharge.

Income statement as an assessment tool of an airport operator: A case study of Polish airports

Objective: This article aims to show the characteristics of airport finances and its implications for operational management. It presents comparative case study analysis and tools to evaluate income statement data as a basis for assessment of the financial condition of an airport operator. Research Design & Methods: The paper is divided into three parts. The first one focuses on the characteristics of airports’ typical revenue structure and is operational consequences to the managerial board. It is discussed how to resolve infrastructure bottleneck problems with financial techniques. The second part is devoted to the operational cost analysis with an attempt to check whether popular hypotheses concerning airports’ finance specifics apply to Polish regional airports. The analysis examines the elasticity of fixed costs regarding the number of passengers served. The last part of this paper contains a break-even point analysis of Polish regional airport as a benchmarking tool of comparative analysis. Findings: An analysis of costs at Polish airports was carried out confirming the thesis about a very high share of fixed costs in the total operating costs of aviation activities and its small elasticity regarding number of passengers served. Profitability thresholds at Polish airports were examined, confirming the thesis that profitability is usually achieved after exceeding the 1 mln number of passengers served annually. This number corresponds to annual revenues of about PLN 50 million. Contribution & Value Added: Investigation of the measures and determinants of airports finance characteristics gives insight into the relationship between infrastructure throughput and break-even point.

Treatment and Operating Cost Analysis of Textile Wastewater by Electrocoagulation

Textile dyeing industries are utilizing large quantity of raw water for the processing at dyeing and finishing units. At the same time, there generate huge amount of wastewater from different processes in the textile industry. Many of textile industries in India are using variety of synthetic dyes for the processing purpose. These dyes are very complex in nature. Many dyes contain organic compounds with functional groups, carboxylic (–COOH), amine (–NH2) and azo (–N=N–). Wastewater generating from textile industry is also found to be in variety of colours along with very high COD and BOD values. Present study deals with the treatment of textile dyeing effluent with aluminium electrodes in electrochemical reactor. Experiments were carried out at different pH range (4-10) and current density 53 mA/cm2. Maximum COD and Colour removal was found 95 % and 92 % respectively at optimum pH at the cost of 13.3 Wh/dm3. Electro-coagulation was found suitable for the treatment of textile dyeing effluent.

EFFICIENCY OF USE OF GREEN-TRANSPORT COMPONENTS BY OPERATING AND ENERGY INDICATORS

In agriculture, the components of production cycles are likely (stochastic) in nature. This is especially true for harvesting. The duration of this period depends on the weather conditions, the biology of plant development, the variety of culture, the composition of the soil, agro technical techniques, etc. In connection with this, there is a need for scientific and production searches for such forms of organization of the harvesting process that would allow harvesting in short agronomic terms and substantially reduce due to this loss. The purpose of the research is to substantiate the structure and composition of the technology of harvesting and transport complexes for different technologies of harvesting cereal crops by operational and energy indicators to reduce the material and energy costs of harvesting. To calculate the comparative estimation of energy costs of complex fuel and operating costs for different harvesting technologies of winter wheat, four technologies are considered: traditional technology - direct harvesting without straw shredding; traditional technology - separate harvesting; zero technology - the use of harvesting equipment of domestic production; Zero technology - the use of harvesting techniques imported production. For these technologies, according to the methodology of the latest scientific research, technological maps for the harvesting of winter wheat have been developed. A comparative analysis of operational and energy costs of harvesting winter wheat indicated that the least cost is zero technology using domestic production technology, and the most expensive is conventional technology with direct combine harvesting. The presented results of researches of various technologies of grain cereal harvesting according to the structure and composition of equipment of harvesting and transportation complexes indicated that reduction of operational and energy expenses is possible due to increase of productivity, reduction of book value and quantity of harvesting equipment in the composition of harvesting - transport complexes at performance of works in optimal agro technical terms with minimal crop losses.

Penentuan Peluang Usaha Pertanian Holtikultura Menggunakan Simple Additive Weighting dan Promethee

One of the agriculture sectors that can be used as business opportunities is the vegetable commodity horticultural agriculture sector. There are 5 criteria that can be used, namely the analysis of initial capital, operational costs, harvest time, selling price and profits. While there are 12 kinds of plants namely shallots, green cayenne peppers, green mustard greens, round green eggplants, squash / cucumber, cucumber, long beans, spinach, kale, tomatoes, cauliflower and bitter melon / bitter melon. The implementation of Decision Support System (SPK) to determine horticultural farming business opportunities can be done using the Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) and Promethee methods. The SAW method calculates the value of each criterion, the weight of the criteria and the type of criteria that can be determined by the user himself and the method of method used to determine the order of priority. The SAW method calculates the value of each criterion, the weight of the criteria and the type of criteria that can be determined by the user himself and the promethee methods used to determine the order of priority. The results of this study are getting the highest priority value is spinach plants by 78.1% based on data processed in June 2019 in Karawang district with business analysis in an area of 23 x 2 meters.

Treatment and operating cost analysis of metalworking wastewaters by a continuous electrocoagulation reactor

Environmental pollution is a persistent global challenge of industrialisation. In this study, metalworking wastewater (MWW) containing COD of 17,312 mg/L, TOC of 3155 mg/L and turbidity of 15,350 NTU was treated by continuous electrocoagulation process (CEP). At current densities between 30–90 A/m2, and reactor retention time (τ) of 35 min (Q = 0.10 L/min), removal efficiencies for COD, TOC and turbidity were 68.0–87.0%, 55.2–77.7% and 85.0–99.6%, respectively for Al electrode. Whereas removals for COD, TOC and turbidity with Fe electrode were 75.1–94.8%, 72.2–89.5% and 88.1–99.9%, respectively. Futheremore, varying flow rate from 0.010-0.20 L/min (τ of 350-17.5 min) at 90 A/m2, resulted into COD, TOC and turbidity removals of 92.6–71.3%, 83.3–64.9% and 99.9–88.9% for Al electrode and 97.8–78.6%, 94.9–69.9% and 99.9–94.7%, respectively for Fe electrode. Analysis of operating costs (OC) encompassing consumptions of energy, electrodes, chemicals and landfill disposal of generated sludge for 30−90 A/m2 current density showed a variation from 1.37 to 4.74 $/m3 and 1.03–3.80 $/m3 for Al and Fe electrodes, respectively. Similarly, the OC for 0.010-0.20 L/min flow rates were 4.34–4.88 $/m3 (3.34–1.11 $/kg COD) and 3.58–3.85 $/m3 (7.73-1.41 $/kg COD) for Al and Fe electrodes, respectively. At optimum conditions (EC time = 40 min, τ = 70 min, and 90 A/m2), COD, TOC and turbidity removals from MWW by CEP were 94.3%, 90.1% and 99.3%, respectively with Fe electrodes. At these optimums, the OC was 3.09 US $/m3 (2.63 US $/kg removed COD). The results showed that CEP was an effective alternative process for treatment of the MWW.

Operating cost analysis: sources and methods

Purpose. The aim of the article is identification of requirements and composition of sources of analysis, critical assessment of their information content, as well as emphasis on the application of a systematic approach to the analysis of operating costs and compliance of its method with these criteria. Methodology of research. The empirical research methods are used in the course of the research, in particular: analysis – in order to identify the composition of sources of analysis of operating expenses; generalization – to substantiate the classification of sources of analysis and to formulate recommendations on the choice of methods of analysis, which most fully allow to estimate the operating costs. Findings. The principles of formation of information base of the analysis of operating expenses are substantiated, which will allow to obtain high-quality information on their status and on the basis of the obtained results to predict the activity of the enterprise in the future. The study of the impact of factors on the analysis of operating expenses allowed us to distinguish sources of information into two groups: internal and external. It is determined that internal sources of data for analysis are accounting records, which are formed at enterprises, and which is considered by the authors as a source of analysis of operating expenses. External sources of information the authors consider all possible information resources of an external nature, research of the competitive environment and reporting of subjects with similar types of activity. Originality. The scheme of interconnection sources and analysis results of operations is proposed, which comprehensive utilization, will allow obtaining result analytical information on which management can optimize the cost of compliance with objectives and increase effectiveness of operations. According to modern realities, the most suitable methods of analysis are offered, which allow to adequately assessing the situation of the enterprise in the strategic plane with respect to operating expenses. Practical value. Carrying out an assessment of the operating costs of an enterprise with using various methods and tools of analysis in a complex provides obtaining unbiased data that can be effectively used for the purpose of cost optimization and increase of productivity. Key words: analysis; operating costs; cost optimization; internal sources of information; external sources of information; strategic methods; ABC analysis.

Operational Cost Analysis for the Treatment of Various Textile Effluents by Electrochemical Process Using Stainless Steel and Aluminum Electrodes

The development of treatment processes from laboratory scale to industries involves a lot of troubles due to the automation of process parameters and fluctuated characteristics of wastewater. In the present study, six different real-time textile effluents of samples such as S1 to S6 are characterized and treated by electrocoagulation process using Stainless Steel (SS) and Aluminum (Al) electrodes. The maximum removal efficiencies of color as 94%, turbidity as 99%, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) as 84% and Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) as 82% is obtained for effluent sample S1 with fixed operational conditions such as the applied voltage of 4V, inter-electrode distance of 3 cm, the surface area of the electrode of 25 cm2 and agitation speed of 500 rpm respectively. After the electrocoagulation process, the BOD5/COD ratio of all effluent samples is observed as biodegradable limits. Under the fixed conditions, the operational cost for the treatment of effluent sample S1 analyzed as 2.42 and 1.01 $/m3 by using SS and Al electrodes respectively.