Competition For Raw Materials Research Articles

Production and investigation of water absorbent fibre pellets from unutilised lignocellulosic biomass pre-processed in a twin-screw extruder

Organic livestock farming requires all resource input to be organic as well. Competition for raw materials as bedding increases the demand for alternative bedding materials. The production of absorbent fibre pellets from underutilized lignocellulosic plant material is therefore a research area that needs further attention. Precise research on processing methods and absorbent quantity is essential for the development of sustainable, high-quality absorbent bedding pellets. Twin-screw extruded fibre from eight different raw materials were processed into absorbent pellets. These pellets were investigated for physical properties including absorbency, mechanical durability, particle-size distribution and bulk density in accordance with relevant standards. Due to the absence of a standardised method for assessing absorbency, a testing method was devised. This involved submerging the produced pellets in deionized water for durations of 30 s, 300 s, and 1200 s. This research analysed various raw materials for suitability in absorbent pellet production. Poplar pellets performed good in absorbency (130 %, 172 %, 194 % respectively) and mechanical durability (95 %). As a result, larger quantities of absorbent pellets could be produced from poplar if needed since poplar wood chips are of higher availability due to existing short rotation coppices. This article emphasised producing absorbent bedding pellets, prioritising, using twin-screw extruded lignocellulosic fibre, revealing significant raw material influence on absorption properties.

An Operative Sequences Network: The Technical Organization at Casa Montero Early Neolithic Flint Mine (Madrid, Spain)

Abstract The purpose of this work is to analyze in which way the technical system of the Early Neolithic flint mine of Casa Montero (5350–5220 cal. BC) was organized to manage different flint-based reduction sequences. The particular features and genesis of Casa Montero’s flint limited the efficiency of one of the main goals of the mine: blade production. As a result, a great amount of the extracted raw material was discarded throughout the process. However, an efficiently planned management allowed its reuse for other purposes. One of the key social activities that took place at the mine was knapping apprenticeship. Younger community members were progressively introduced to this complex technical system, taking part in a many-sided set of tasks and parts of the whole production process, from extraction to recycling and waste management. However, knapping learning, as an operative sequence itself, needs a great amount of raw material. By means of the factorial analysis of the relationships between skill levels and raw material varieties and features of blanks, we can understand the complex organization of this technical system in which some strategies were carried out to avoid competition for raw material and allow motivation of apprentices. The spheres of mining, knapping, and learning coexist harmonically and benefit each other. Younger people of the community participated in mining as a workforce, knapping offers them abundant waste to practice, and learning allows social reproduction.

The role of raw materials for geopolitical competition

The article aims to present the most important issues of competition for raw materials, where different ideas of international trade are identified with political and financial pressure. The method of research used in the work is the analysis of literary heritage and historical facts that confirm or deny different theories. In particular, the theories of T. Malthus, neo-Malthusians and their opponents, as well as the struggle for oil and gas resources in the Middle East, the Arctic and the struggle for water resources in Central Asia were analyzed. In recent years, raw materials have become an instrument of international security. It is the struggle for sources of raw materials that is one of the decisive factors in world stability. Trade in resources should be the focus of regular observations to ensure geopolitical stability

Global industrial enzymes market growth, trends, and forecast 2019–2024: competition for raw materials with other industries and price volatility restraining market growth

Global industrial enzymes market growth, trends, and forecast 2019–2024: competition for raw materials with other industries and price volatility restraining market growth

Biomass power plant feedstock procurement: Modeling transportation cost zones and the potential for competition

Transportation of comminuted (processed) woody biomass from the production site to a utilization point is one of the most costly operational components in feedstock procurement. This study identified potential sources of feedstock based on transportation cost from which three woody biomass power plants in Humboldt County, California, could economically obtain their supply. We conducted service area and location-allocation network analyses for timberlands and sawmills, respectively, and created inclusive and exclusive networks to model three transportation cost zones (TCZs). The area within the $20/bone dry ton TCZ had the highest potential supply of woody biomass in the county (709,565 acres). All sawmills in the county were within an economically viable distance of the power plants. Even though there was no competition for raw materials at the time of this study, a competition risk analysis suggested that this could change with shifts in the demand for biomass or the price of electricity. The methods we developed for this study could be adapted to other regions with managed timberlands and a strong forest products industry.

Modeling an Integrated Market for Sawlogs, Pulpwood and Forest Bioenergy

Traditionally, most applications in the initial stage of forest supply chain deal with sawlogs to sawmills, pulpwood to pulp or paper mills and forest residues to heating plants. However, in the past decades, soaring prices of fossil fuel, global awareness about CO2 emission and increasing attention to domestic resource security have boosted the development of alternative renewable energy, among which forest bioenergy is the most promising and feasible choice for medium- and large-scale heating and electricity generation. Different subsidies and incentive policies for green energy further promote the utilization of forest bioenergy. As a result, there is a trend that pulpwood may be forwarded to heating plants as complementary forest bioenergy. Though pulpwood is more expensive than forest residues, it is more efficient to transport and has higher energy content. The competition between traditional forest industries and wood-energy facilities, expected to grow in the future, is very sensitive for the forest companies as they are involved in all activities. In this paper, we develop a model that all raw materials in the forest, i.e. sawlogs, pulpwood and forest residues, and byproducts from sawmills, i.e. wood chips and bark, exist in an integrated market where pulpwood can be sent to heating plants as bioenergy. It represents a multi-period multi-commodity network planning problem with multiple sources of supply, i.e. pre-selected harvest areas, and multiple kinds of destination, i.e. sawmills, pulp mills and heating plants. The decisions incorporate purchasing the raw materials in harvest areas, reassigning byproducts from sawmills, transporting those assortments to different points for chipping, storing, wood-processing or wood-fired, and replenishing fossil fuel when necessary. Moreover, different from the classic wood procurement problem, we take the unit purchasing costs of raw materials as variables, on which the corresponding supplies of different assortments linearly depend. With this price mechanism, the popularity of harvest areas can be distinguished. The objective of the problem is to minimize the total cost for the integrated market including the purchasing cost of raw materials. Therefore, the model is a quadratic programming (QP) problem with a quadratic objective function and linear constraints. A large case study in southern Sweden under different scenario assumptions is implemented to simulate the integrated market and to study how price restriction, market regulation, demand fluctuation, policy implementation and exogenous change in price for fossil fuel will influence the entire wood flows. Pair-wise comparisons show that in the integrated market, competition for raw materials between forest bioenergy facilities and traditional forest industries pushes up the purchasing costs of pulpwood. The results also demonstrate that resources can be effectively utilized with the price mechanism in supply market. The overall energy value of forest bioenergy delivered to heating plants is 23% more than the amount in the situation when volume and unit purchasing cost of raw materials are fixed.

Virginia's Woody Biomass Market: Opportunities and Implications

Abstract Recent interest in producing energy from woody biomass has raised questions about the coexistence of wood-to-energy markets and the traditional forest products industry in Virginia. This study examined recent trends in the forest products industry and the wood-to-energy market, as well as the potential for competition between the two industries. Results indicate that the forest products industry has struggled recently, whereas wood-to-energy markets have expanded. Current opinion varies as to whether or not the wood-to-energy market will negatively affect the forest products industry. At present, 75% of Virginia's pulpmills are located within 50 miles of a wood-to-energy facility, and all pulpmills are within 75 miles. Recent trends in pulpwood prices, fuel chip prices, and Virginia law indicate that competition for raw material is unlikely in the short term. However, this research indicates that in the longer term, depending on government policies and technological progress in conversion technologies, competition between forest industry and wood-to-energy companies is possible.

Renewable energy: the potential opportunities and obligations of plantation forestry

Global demand for woody biomass in substituting fossil fuels does, and will increasingly, place significant pressure on timber plantations and question conventional management practices. Plantations are rationally laid out, located in areas of high productivity, typically have good infrastructure, and are serviced by technologically efficient harvesting systems. Thus they have an inherent capacity to contribute more to bioenergy feedstocks than other, more natural, forms of forest or forest management. Sustainability goals are defined not only in terms of their in situ effect, but also in how they conform and contribute broadly to sustainable development at the local, regional and global levels. Renewable energy is generally recognised as a positive step on the pathway to sustainable development, but biomass-based renewable energy is becoming a controversial issue. In agriculture, the lure of first-generation biofuels is already distorting world food markets, energy crops such as sugar cane and oil palm continue to encroach on natural ecosystems, while in plantation forestry, everything from stumps and roots to branches and needles has taken on a new value. Not only does this threaten the ecological viability of the site, but it poses a challenge to forest management in suggesting a future and more direct competition for raw materials and the livelihoods of other users and satellite industries. Some level of trade-off between the long-term goals of plantation forestry, ecologically sound harvesting practices, and the benefits of renewable energy need to be arrived at. The challenge lies in ensuring an equitable incurrence of liabilities and distribution of benefits for all, while guaranteeing a feasible supply to a long-term investment in an energy conversion plant. Many argue that the free market should play itself out, oblivious to the fact that renewable energy plants are often subsidised. In this paper, we provide a general overview of some of the issues facing plantation forestry and the bioenergy harvest. The paper is presented primarily to stimulate discussion around issues of relevance to the emerging bioenergy sector.

エネルギー用サトウキビからの食糧共存型バイオマスエタノール生産

Competition for raw materials between sugar and ethanol usually occurs when biomass ethanol is produced from sugarcane. In order to overcome this critical problem, numerous studies have investigated the production of ethanol from two by-products of sugarcane: molasses and bagasse. However, there have been no previous attempts to improve the relevant properties of sugarcane, such as its growth rate, sugar content or fiber content.The objective of the current work was to develop a novel system for high-yield biomass ethanol production to support existing methods of sugar production. A system for the simultaneous production of sugar and biomass ethanol was designed by employing selected sugarcane strains that were developed specifically for this process, including 95GA-24, 95GA-27 and NiTn18.We ran productivity simulations using data from the novel sugarcane strains and compared the per-formance of the new process with that of conventional methods. Our results confirmed that sugar produc-tion could be maintained at present levels while three-times more biomass ethanol could be generated com-pared with the conventional processes. In addition, we demonstrated that a carbon-neutral process could be achieved using the new system.

Competition for Raw Materials

I AM asked to consider the subject of the supply of the most important raw materials and the demand for them. At once the question arises which materials are the most important? The vital necessities of a nation at one time are the incidentals of another day. The progress of research often creates a demand for a new material which was before unknown but soon may be essential. Again, we must think for what purpose the materials are wanted. Are quinine, camphor, or iodine more or less important than chromium, nickel, or vanadium? All these are raw materials which we do not produce but for which there is constant demand. The discussion of our needs of raw materials is confused and no broad information concerning the whole subject is easily available. Little seems known of the actual facts, though they are of public record. Statements from serious sources are often published which are at variance with each other. Let us look at some of them.