Economic feasibility model for a reduced emission binder system for the cast metal industry

Global competition and rising environmental costs have raised concern for the survival of the domestic cast metal industry. Industry leaders have identified the development of environmental technologies to reduce air emissions as the top research priority. This research provides a foundation for this effort by developing the basic model components for determining the feasibility of a new binder system with reduced emission characteristics. Three issues are explored to achieve this goal.; Since emission models are essential tools to support binder product development, the research first evaluates the accuracy of emission rate indices, the process characteristics that influence emissions, and develops a process based emission model. Core presence, sand to metal ratio, and sea coal content are identified as significant process parameters to influence either VOC or benzene emissions.; Second, binder product development requires a definition of the costs of feasible alternatives to a new binder. This research identifies the competitive technological alternatives to a new binder and develops cost models for cast metal industry applications of emission control equipment. A product space (mapping) model examines the conditions under which a new binder may be a competitive product compared to control technology.; Finally, the research develops a technique to assign a monetary value to emission reduction and uses this information in a binary logit choice model with risk aversion based weights to estimate the likelihood of the commercial success of a new binder concept: for a given combination of binder performance characteristics, a probability of new binder selection can be estimated.; The research concludes that development of a new environmental binder system is a feasible project: the emission models to support new binder product development can be developed; a new binder can be competitive compared to control technology options; and the choice model predicts that decision makers will select a new binder given specific performance characteristics and competitive circumstances.; The research extends the binder feasibility model to address the issues of advanced technology (AT) product development. The methodology employed to value new binder emission reduction is applied to the general problem of valuing the intangible benefits of advanced technologies.