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Formaldehyde-based adhesives have been used for several decades due to its convenience. In this paper, we aimed to explore the economics of urea–formaldehyde (UF) adhesives that can be used in wood panels. Two formaldehyde production pathways: metal oxide pathway and silver pathway, were compared in this study. SuperPro Designer v9.5 software was employed to perform the techno-economic analysis (TEA). Key parameters of TEA were calculated and compared of these two pathways, including total capital investment, annual operating cost and product revenues. It was found that the unit production cost of UF adhesive made from metal oxide pathway ($0.86/kg) was less expensive than that from silver pathway ($0.99/kg), but the total capital cost was slightly higher in metal oxide pathway (40 million $) than silver pathway (38 million $). Additionally, sensitivity analysis indicated that final product yield and material costs were the most sensitive factors among all inputs.
Minliang Yang; Kurt A. Rosentrater. Economic feasibility analysis of commercial formaldehyde-based adhesives. SN Applied Sciences 2020, 2, 1 -7.
AMA StyleMinliang Yang, Kurt A. Rosentrater. Economic feasibility analysis of commercial formaldehyde-based adhesives. SN Applied Sciences. 2020; 2 (7):1-7.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMinliang Yang; Kurt A. Rosentrater. 2020. "Economic feasibility analysis of commercial formaldehyde-based adhesives." SN Applied Sciences 2, no. 7: 1-7.
Traditional formaldehyde-based adhesives still play a crucial role in the current market, despite increasing environmental concerns resulting from their production. The purpose of this paper was to evaluate the environmental impacts of formaldehyde-based adhesives, urea-formaldehyde (UF) adhesive and phenol-formaldehyde (PF) adhesives, mainly used in wood products. In this study, a functional unit of 1 kg adhesive was used. GaBi 6 software was employed to perform the life cycle assessment (LCA). Several key parameters for life cycle analysis were analyzed, such as global warming potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, and human health. As a result, the greenhouse gas emissions ranged from 2.04 kg CO2-eq./kg of UF adhesive to 2.88 kg CO2-eq./kg of PF adhesive. In terms of the overall environmental impacts, it was found that UF adhesive had a nearly 50% higher life cycle impact than PF adhesive. Comparing the energy consumption used in UF and PF adhesives, UF adhesive was much lower than PF adhesive. Transportation distance was determined to be a sensitive parameter with respect to global warming potential for formaldehyde-based adhesive.
Minliang Yang; Kurt A. Rosentrater. Life Cycle Assessment of Urea-Formaldehyde Adhesive and Phenol-Formaldehyde Adhesives. Environmental Processes 2020, 7, 553 -561.
AMA StyleMinliang Yang, Kurt A. Rosentrater. Life Cycle Assessment of Urea-Formaldehyde Adhesive and Phenol-Formaldehyde Adhesives. Environmental Processes. 2020; 7 (2):553-561.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMinliang Yang; Kurt A. Rosentrater. 2020. "Life Cycle Assessment of Urea-Formaldehyde Adhesive and Phenol-Formaldehyde Adhesives." Environmental Processes 7, no. 2: 553-561.
Bioproducts have attracted much attention in recent years due to the increasing environmental concerns about petroleum products. In this study, we aimed to explore potential environmental impacts and economic feasibility of pressure sensitive bio-adhesive (PSA) produced from the reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization process. A detail process model of pressure sensitive bio-adhesive was developed in order to thoroughly understand both economic and environmental impacts of this production process. Life cycle assessment results showed that the overall environmental impacts of bio-adhesive was ~30% lower compared to the petro-adhesive’s production process. The minimum selling price for this pressure sensitive bio-adhesive was calculated as $3.48/kg. Sensitivity analysis results indicated that raw materials costs had the most significant impact on pressure sensitive bio-adhesive’s selling price, followed by total capital investment. Electricity sources had larger environmental impacts to the overall bio-adhesive production process compared to transportation distance and product yield. These results highlight the environmental advantage and potential economic competency of this pressure sensitive bio-based adhesive.
Minliang Yang; Kurt A. Rosentrater. Life Cycle Assessment and Techno-Economic Analysis of Pressure Sensitive Bio-Adhesive Production. Energies 2019, 12, 4502 .
AMA StyleMinliang Yang, Kurt A. Rosentrater. Life Cycle Assessment and Techno-Economic Analysis of Pressure Sensitive Bio-Adhesive Production. Energies. 2019; 12 (23):4502.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMinliang Yang; Kurt A. Rosentrater. 2019. "Life Cycle Assessment and Techno-Economic Analysis of Pressure Sensitive Bio-Adhesive Production." Energies 12, no. 23: 4502.
With increasing environmental concerns with respect to the petroleum-based adhesive production process, bio-based adhesive has been explored as a promising replacement. The purpose of this paper was to explore the economic feasibility of structural bio-adhesives made from glycerol, a byproduct of biodiesel production. SuperPro Designer software was employed to perform the techno-economic analysis. Several key parameters were analyzed, such as total capital investment, annual operating costs and revenues. It was found that the unit production cost of structural bio-adhesives ($2.45/kg) was compatible with that in the current market. Three different scenarios were built to investigate the worst-case scenario and the best-case scenario associated with this production process. Sensitivity analysis was also performed to evaluate the key parameters significantly influencing the economic result. In this study, material cost was determined to be the most significant factor throughout the production process. Discounted cash flow analysis was conducted to explore the influence of the time value of money. The minimum selling price obtained was $3.11/kg for this bioadhesive production process. Underlying issues and areas needed for improvement were also discussed in this study.
Minliang Yang; Kurt A. Rosentrater. Techno-economic analysis of the production process of structural bio-adhesive derived from glycerol. Journal of Cleaner Production 2019, 228, 388 -398.
AMA StyleMinliang Yang, Kurt A. Rosentrater. Techno-economic analysis of the production process of structural bio-adhesive derived from glycerol. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2019; 228 ():388-398.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMinliang Yang; Kurt A. Rosentrater. 2019. "Techno-economic analysis of the production process of structural bio-adhesive derived from glycerol." Journal of Cleaner Production 228, no. : 388-398.
As a promising alternative of fossil fuel, ethanol has been widely used. In recent years, much attention has been devoted to bioethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass. In previous research, it is found that the pretreatment method named low-moisture anhydrous ammonia (LMAA) has the advantage of high conversion efficiency and less washing requirements. The purpose of this study was to explore the optimal conditions by employing the LMAA pretreatment method. Corn stover was treated under three levels of moisture content: 20, 50, 80 w.b.% (wet basis), and three levels of particle size: 2 mm; it was also ammoniated with a loading rate of 0.1g NH3/g biomass (dry matter). Ammoniated corn stover was then subjected to different pretreatment times (24, 96, 168 h) and temperatures (20, 75, 130 °C). After pretreatment, compositional analysis and enzymatic digestibility were conducted to determine the highest glucose yield. As a result, the highest glucose yield was obtained under the condition of 96 h and 75 °C with 50 w.b.% and 0.09–2 mm of corn stover. The main findings of this study could improve the efficiency of bioethanol production processing in the near future.
Minliang Yang; Weitao Zhang; Kurt A. Rosentrater. Anhydrous Ammonia Pretreatment of Corn Stover and Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Glucan from Pretreated Corn Stover. Fermentation 2017, 3, 9 .
AMA StyleMinliang Yang, Weitao Zhang, Kurt A. Rosentrater. Anhydrous Ammonia Pretreatment of Corn Stover and Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Glucan from Pretreated Corn Stover. Fermentation. 2017; 3 (1):9.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMinliang Yang; Weitao Zhang; Kurt A. Rosentrater. 2017. "Anhydrous Ammonia Pretreatment of Corn Stover and Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Glucan from Pretreated Corn Stover." Fermentation 3, no. 1: 9.
As the leader of the largest economy, President of the United States has substantive influence on addressing climate change problems. However, a presidential election is often dominated by issues other than energy problems. This paper focuses on the 2016 presidential election, and examines the energy plans proposed by the leading Democrat and Republican candidates. Our data from the Iowa caucus survey in January 2016 suggests that voters were more concerned about terrorism and economic issues than environmental issues. We then compare the Democratic and Republican candidate’s view of America’s energy future, and evaluate their proposed renewable energy targets. We find that the view on renewable energy is polarized between Democratic and Republican candidates, while candidates from both parties agree on the need for energy efficiency. Results from our ordinal least squares regression models suggests that Democratic candidates have moderate to ambitious goals for developing solar and other renewables. The Republican candidates favor fossil fuels and they choose not to provide any specific target for developing renewable energy. In addition, this trend of party polarization has grown more significant when compared with the past three presidential elections. Our observation suggests that energy policies need to be discussed more often regarding the diversification and decarbonization of the nation’s energy system.
Ming-Hsun Cheng; Minliang Yang; Yu Wang. American’s Energy Future: An Analysis of the Proposed Energy Policy Plans in Presidential Election. Energies 2016, 9, 1000 .
AMA StyleMing-Hsun Cheng, Minliang Yang, Yu Wang. American’s Energy Future: An Analysis of the Proposed Energy Policy Plans in Presidential Election. Energies. 2016; 9 (12):1000.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMing-Hsun Cheng; Minliang Yang; Yu Wang. 2016. "American’s Energy Future: An Analysis of the Proposed Energy Policy Plans in Presidential Election." Energies 9, no. 12: 1000.
As the leader of the largest economy, President of the United States has substantive influence on addressing the global climate change problem. However, presidential election is often dominated by issues other than energy problems. This paper focuses on the on-going 2016 presidential election, examining the energy plans proposed by the leading Democrat and Republican candidates. Our data from the Iowa caucus survey in January 2016 suggests that voters are more concerned about terrorism and economic issues than environmental relative issues. We then compare the Democratic and Republican candidate’s view of American’s energy future, and evaluate their proposed renewable energy targets. We find that the view on renewable energy is polarized between Democratic and Republican candidates, while candidates from both parties agree on the need for energy efficiency. Results from our ordinal least squares regression models suggest that Democratic candidates have moderate to ambitious goals for developing solar and other renewable energy. The Republican candidates favor fossil fuel and they neglect to provide any plan for renewable energy. In addition, this trend of polarization has grown more significant when compared with the past three presidential elections. Our observation suggests that energy issues need to be discussed more to draw broader attention to salient issues of diversifying and decarbonizing the nation’s energy system.
Ming-Hsun Cheng; Minliang Yang; Yu Wang. American’s Energy Future: An Analysis of the Proposed Energy Policy Plans in Presidential Election. 2016, 1 .
AMA StyleMing-Hsun Cheng, Minliang Yang, Yu Wang. American’s Energy Future: An Analysis of the Proposed Energy Policy Plans in Presidential Election. . 2016; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMing-Hsun Cheng; Minliang Yang; Yu Wang. 2016. "American’s Energy Future: An Analysis of the Proposed Energy Policy Plans in Presidential Election." , no. : 1.