Introduction
Acrylic sheet are used in manufacturing of scales, set square stencils, transparent covers of instruments, neon and fancy lighting signboards, fancy tables, storage boxes, floppy diskette, shelves for audio cassettes and other novelty items. They have good weather resistance with highly durable optical clarity, high strength-toweight ratio, good dimensional stability, good thermo-formability, etc. it costs US$ 15950 with a capacity 31200kg annually and estimated revenues are US$ 433056 per annum
Production process
In manufacturing process, a mixture of regenerated and virgin methyl methacrylate monomer is used to affect economy of operation. To obtain the regenerated polymer, the acrylic scrap is heated with certain chemicals to about 4000- 4500 C in a mild steel distillation still placed on a open fire or a furnace and fitted with a condenser and collecting flask. The heating operation results in cracking polymetyl methacrylate into crude methyl methacrylate monomer, which, after vaporizing, gets condensed and is collected in a tank, is redistilled to obtain the pure regenerated monomer.
A mixture of the virgin monomer and regenerated monomer is mixed with the desired catalyst of benzyl peroxide and heated. After a desired degree of polymerization, the viscous mass is cooled, mixed with pearl essence colours and poured into moulds. The moulds are filled with pre-polymerization mass and heated, finally they are dipped in a hot water bath to complete the polymerization. On complete polymerization, the sheets are cut into required sizes and covered with paper sheets.
Capital Investment Requirement in US $
| Item | Units | Qty | Price | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acrylic scrap depolmerization unit | No | 1 | 2,000 | 2,000 |
| SS distillation still | No | 2 | 1,000 | 2,000 |
| Coal fired boiler | No | 2 | 3,200 | 6,400 |
| Water storage tanks | No | 2 | 550 | 1100 |
| Glass sheet moulds | No | 1 | 2,000 | 2,000 |
| Acrylic sheet cutter machine | No | 1 | 1250 | 1250 |
| Water circulation pumps | No | 4 | 300 | 1,200 |
| TC of Machinery & Tools | Â | Â | Â | 15,950 |
Production and Operating costs in US $ General Costs (Overheads)
| Cost Item | Units | @ | Qty/ day | Pdn cost/ day | Pdn cost/ mth | Pdn cost/ yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct Costs | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â |
| Acrylic scrap | kgs | 70 | 3.21 | 225 | 5842 | 70,106 |
| Methyl methacrylate monomer | ltrs | 45 | 0.16 | 7.2 | 187.2 | 2,246 |
| Benzyl peroxide | ltrs | 37 | 0.1 | 3.7 | 96.2 | 1154.4 |
| calcium chloride | kgs | 20 | 0.96 | 19.2 | 499.2 | 5,990 |
| Pearl essence& Colour | ltrs | 7 | 0.22 | 1.54 | 40.04 | 480.48 |
| Stearic acid | ltrs | 70 | 0.31 | 21.7 | 564.2 | 141 |
| Packaging material | pkts | 4 | 3.21 | 12.8 | 334 | 4,006 |
| Sub-total | Â | Â | Â | 293 | 7,607 | 84,652 |
| Labour | 1,200 | 14,400 |
|---|---|---|
| Selling & distribution | 100 | 1,200 |
| Utilities (Water, power) | 500 | 6,000 |
| Administration | 100 | 1,200 |
| Rent | 400 | 4,800 |
| Miscellaneous expenses | 150 | 1,800 |
| Depreciation | 332.33 | 3,988 |
| Sub-total | 2,782 | 33,388 |
| Total Operating Costs | 10,388.8 | 118,040 |
Project product costs and Price Structure in US $
| Item | Qty/ day | Qty/ yr | @ | Pdn cost/yr | UPx | TR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acrylic Sheets | 100 | 31,200 | 3.47 | 108,264 | 4 | 433,056 |
Profitability Analysis in US $
| Profitability Item | Per day | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 1388 | 36,088 | 433,056 |
| Less: Production and operating costs | 378.33 | 9,837 | 118,040 |
| Profit | 1009.7 | 26,251 | 315,016 |
Source of Equipment
It can be locally made by Tonet Ltd, Kanyanya, Gayaza Rd or imported.
