Profit Making and Environmental Conditions Flashcards
What are the 5 factors that affect the profit of a product?
- Availability and cost of feedstock
- Recycling
- Energy Requirements
- Use of By-products
- Yield
How does ‘Availability and cost of Feedstock’ make profit and lose profit?
They make profit by:
- Sourcing the feedstock from local companies to save money on transportation
They lose profit by:
- If the feedstock locally is expensive, this will lose profit.
How does recycling make profit, and lose profit?
Make profit:
- Feed unreacted reactants back into the process
- Recycle water
Lose profit:
- It is difficult to separate unreacted reagents from the products, to add back.
How does ‘energy requirements’ make profit and lose profit?
Make profit:
- The heat from exothermic reactions can be used to heat buildings, save the energy cost
- Use catalysts to speed up reactions, to save money on running the experiment and be more efficient
Lose profit:
- Reactions that need heating or cooling will add to energy costs
- Cooling reactions are expensive, special coolants may be required
How does ‘use of by-products’ make profit and lose profit?
Make profit:
- Sell by-products to maximise profits
Lose profit:
- Toxic by-products will be expensive to dispose of
How does ‘Yield’ make profit and lose profit?
Make profit:
- high yields, maximise profits
Lose profit:
- low yields cost more money and more time and energy will be needed to produce high volumes of the product.
What is a feedstock?
A reactant from which other metals can be produced. They are derived from raw materials.
What are examples of feedstocks?
ocygen, nitrogen, ethanol, ethanoic acid
What is a raw material?
A raw material is a useful substance for the chemical industry which is found naturally.
What are examples of raw materials?
crude oil, salt, air, water
What are the 3 main environmental considerations to be taken into account?
- How to minimise waste
- How to avoid making toxic substances
- How to design products that will biodegrade
If a reaction gives out a lot of heat, ie exothermic reactions, what could happen?
The heat should be removed quickly in order to avoid a reaction overheating and cause thermal runaway.
