Small-scale Fuel Alcohol Production from Corn: Economic Feasibility Prospects

This publication on the economic feasibility of fuel alcohol production is based upon research conducted at South Dakota State University (SDSU) from 1981 through 1983. It is a companion to our recently published report entitled Small Scale Plant: Costs of Making Fuel Alcohol (SDSU Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 686, September 1982). That bulletin detailed the costs involved in fuel alcohol production. The present bulletin compares those costs to estimated returns from fuel alcohol and the feed byproduct. Both costs and returns are calculated on a 1981 basis

Water Use by Rural Manufacturing Firms in South Dakota

The information contained in this bulletin is a condensed version of a completion report for the U.S. Office of Water Research and Technology. The completion report is recommended for the reader who is interested in more details of the study. Inquiries can be addressed to the Water Resources Institute or the Economics Department at South Dakota State University, Brookings, South Dakota 57007

Preliminary Cost Estimates - Producing Alcohol Fuel From a Small Scale Plant

This paper provides an interim progress report on research at South Dakota State University (SDSU) concerning the economics of producing fuel alcohol in small-scale plants. Estimated per gallon costs of producing alcohol are quite high. The lowest estimate is $3.12 per gallon of alcohol (based upon$2.00 corn, a 10% interest rate, and 9,088 gal per year production). The highest estimate is $5.70 per gallon (based upon$2.34 corn, a 15% interest rate, and 4,544 gal per year annual production). These costs indicate the need for utilizing all capital components of a plant close to their capacities, reducing fixed costs per unit of alcohol output. (See more in text)

Rural Manufacturing Development . . .What Influences It?

The general purposes of this study were two-fold: (1) to explore how the extent and type of rural industrialization being experienced in South Dakota differs among types of communities and local labor sheds; and (2) to develop policy and planning recommendations that can be used by rural industrial development entities at the community, district, and state levels in South Dakota. The underlying assumption of this study was that the degree and type of industrialization is directly related to community and labor shed characteristics . These characteristics, or locational inducement factors, can be broken down into several categories

Beneficial effects of childhood selective dorsal rhizotomy in adulthood

Background: Selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) has been used to treat children with spastic cerebral palsy (CP) for over three decades. However, little is known about the outcomes of childhood SDR in adults.  Objectives: 1) To study the effects of childhood SDR on the quality of life and ambulatory function in adult life. 2) To determine late side effects of SDR in adults.   Methods: Adults (> 17.9 years) who underwent SDR in childhood (2 - 17.9 years) between 1987 and 2013 were surveyed in 2015. Patients completed a survey, including questions on demographic information, quality of life, health, surgical outcomes, motor function, manual ability, pain, braces/orthotics, post-SDR treatment, living situation, education level, work status, and side effects of SDR.  Results: In our study population of 294 patients (18.0 - 37.4 years), patients received SDR during the ages of 2.0 - 17.9 years and were followed up 2.2 to 28.3 years after surgery. Eighty-four percent had spastic diplegia, 12% had spastic quadriplegia, and 4% had spastic triplegia. The majority (88%) of patients reported improved post-SDR quality of life and 1% considered the surgery detrimental. Most (83%) would recommend the procedure to others and 3% would not. However, patients who would not recommend SDR to others ambulated with a walker or were not ambulatory at all prior to SDR. The majority (83%) of patients improved (30%) or remained stable (53%) in ambulation. Twenty-nine percent of patients reported pain, mostly in the back and lower limbs, with a mean pain level of 4.4 ± 2.4 on the Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS). Decreased sensation in small areas of the lower limbs was reported by 8% of patients, though this did not affect daily life. Scoliosis was diagnosed in 28%, with 40% of these patients pursuing treatment. Whether scoliosis was related to SDR is not clear, though scoliosis is known to occur in patients with CP and also in the general population. Only 4% of patients underwent spinal fusion.  Orthopedic surgeries were pursued by 59% of patients. The most common orthopedic surgeries were hamstring lengthenings (31%), Achilles tendon lengthenings (18%), adductor lengthenings (16%), and derotational osteotomies (16%). Twenty-four percent of all patients later underwent hip surgery and 8% had surgeries on their knees.  Conclusion: Results of this study indicate that the beneficial effects of childhood SDR extend to adulthood quality of life and ambulatory function without late side effects of surgery

Economic Feasibility Methods: New Agricultural and Rural Enterprises

The purpose of this bulletin is to outline and describe methods of economic feasibility analysis for a new business enterprise. In some cases, individuals and groups can conduct their own feasibility analysis. In other cases, where investments are large and complex, professional assistance may have to be employed. In either case, this bulletin can be useful in clarifying what needs to be included in a feasibility analysis

A Small-Scale Plant: Costs of Making Fuel Alcohol

This bulletin constitutes a report on the costs of producing fuel alcohol in small- or community-scale alcohol plants. The basis for this analysis is a pilot fuel alcohol plant built on the South Dakota State University (SDSU) campus. Data taken and adapted from the operation of this pilot plant were used to estimate the capital and operating costs presented herein

Alcohol Fuel from Fodder beets: Economic Feasibility of a Small Scale Plant

The study reported in this publication was undertaken to answer with great confidence the question of how economically feasible fodder beet based alcohol production might be. Specific research objectives addressed in the study were the following: 1. to estimate costs of growing fodder beets under South Dakota conditions. 2. to determine the costs of processing fodder beets in a small-scale plant into 185-190 proof alcohol and a feed byproduct. 3. to determine the likely value of the feed by product (the high-protein feed remaining after the alcohol is removed); 4. to estimate the value of 185-190 proof alcohol; and 5. to combine this cost and return information (“1” through “4”) to determine the probable economic feasibility of small-scale fuel alcohol production using fodder beets

Incorporating next-to-leading order matrix elements for hadronic diboson production in showering event generators

A method for incorporating information from next-to-leading order QCD matrix elements for hadronic diboson production into showering event generators is presented. In the hard central region (high jet transverse momentum) where perturbative QCD is reliable, events are sampled according to the first order tree level matrix element. In the soft and collinear regions next-to-leading order corrections are approximated by calculating the differential cross section across the phase space accessible to the parton shower using the first order (virtual graphs included) matrix element. The parton shower then provides an all-orders exclusive description of parton emissions. Events generated in this way provide a physical result across the entire jet transverse momentum spectrum, have next-to-leading order normalization everywhere, and have positive definite event weights. The method is generalizable without modification to any color singlet production process.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figure