Chemical renewable sources

The reliance of fossil fuels has been challenged by lower cost and renewable sources that are more environmentally friendly. The traditional chemical plant has met serious competition from green plants. Many monomers are now made via fermentation, using low-cost sugars as feedstock. Some of the commodity monomers are under siege by chemicals extracted from biomass. Monomer production has been expanded to include many more monomers from nature. 

Green chemistry also calls for design for biodegradable end products, principally, by employing chemicals from renewable sources, and dictates the use of real-time, on-line analysis for better process control. 

Biomass includes chemicals obtained from wood, sugar, grain, etc. A totally renewable source, it will become more important in the future. 

Chemicals from animal and vegetable oils are known as fatty acid products. Obviously, a renewable source. 

Use of renewable feedstocks is most likely where they can compete economically with petrochemically derived materials. This already happens in many areas, and it is sometimes forgotten that even in a world that seems to be dominated by chemicals and materials from fossil carbon and other non-renewable sources, industry already uses annually 19.8 MT of vegetable oils, 22.5 MT starch, 28.4 MT of plant fibres and 42.5 MT of wood pulp. These all compete on price and performance with synthetic alternatives. 

It is fair to say that very few chemicals currently available in routine commercial operations are derived from renewable sources or if from renewable sources, they often... 

The European Commission wants to have a contribution of 12% energy from renewable sources to the energy budget within the EC in 2010. The relative amount of bio-fuels will increase to a level of 5.75%, this is more than twice the corresponding use of oil. The US Department of energy has set goals to replace 30% of the liquid petroleum transportation fuels with biofuels and to replace 25% of industrial organic chemicals with biomass-derived chemicals by 2025 [7]. 

Hydrogen may be the only link between physical energy from renewable sources and chemical energy. It is also the ideal fuel for modem clean energy conversion devices like fuel cells or even hydrogen engines. 

The chemical and enzymatic oxidative degradation of lignin (and coal) is used to obtain not only vanillin and benzoic acid, but also other aromatics (Baciocchi et al. 1999, references therein). In principle, lignin could be a major nonfossil and renewable source of aromatic compounds, a feedstock for synthesis of useful products. The problem deserves finding new ion-radical routes to cleave lignin. At present, there is some shortage in oil, gas, and even coal, which had usually been well-available natural sources of aromatics. In the near future, biomass may (and must) replace fossil-originated materials in the manufacture of commercial carbon-based products. 

Lora, J.H., M.A.Sc. Thesis, University of Toronto, 1976 Lora, J.H. and Wayman, M., Fast Growing Hybrid Poplar A Renewable Source of Chemicals, Energy and Food, Forest Research Information Paper No. 102, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Toronto, 1978 Wayman, M. and Lora, J.H., Wood-fired Electricity Generation in Eastern Ontario, Royal Commission on Electric Power Planning, Toronto, Ontario, 1978 (including references to many recent symposia and studies). 

Biodiesel may be chemically represented as a mixture of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs). It is a naturally derived liquid fuel, produced from renewable sources which, in compliance with appropriate specification parameters, may be used in place of diesel fuel both for internal combustion engines and for producing heat in boilers. 

Chemical Industries are represented by BASF SE, Showa Denko, WACKER and DOW Chemicals, who are best qualified to present challenges and requirements of biodegradable polymers on an industrial scale. Information on mineral oil-based polyesters, poly(vinylalcohol), poly(butylenesuccinate), and new developments in the field of poly(urethanes) from renewable sources can be found within this volume. 

At present, methanol is (besides methane) the only chemical that can be produced with 100% selectivity from syngas, and it therefore constitutes a unique starting material for purely syngas-based industrial chemicals. This new role for methanol is also assisted by the ease of transporting it from areas where it can be cheaply produced from low-cost natural gas, coal or renewable sources such as biomass. The rising ethylene cost has given impetus to research devoted to finding routes in which ethylene can be replaced by methanol. 

Depletion of fossil oil resources and concern about environmental pollution, especially heavy metals and greenhouse gases, have brought biomass into focus as a renewable source of raw materials for large-scale chemicals and energy production (1). The biomass refinery of the future will require a powerful toolbox of processes for converting complex plant matter into useful commodity and specialty products. 

The reasons to use raw materials from renewable resources can be various. When a natural flavour ingredient has to be prepared, a natural raw material is essential, and natural raw materials are renewable, because they come from plants, animals or fermentation. For nature-identical flavour ingredients, a renewable raw material can be a good choice from a chemical point of view and quite often also from a cost point of view if turpentine is readily available in a country with limited or no petrochemical resources, -pinene from the renewable source is cheaper than chemically synthesised -pinene. A manufacturer chooses only for sustainable production if it is remunerative and at least as attractive as other options. 

In 2008, increases in the price of oil and the recognition of a need to reduce the impact of the chemical and energy industries on climate change, notably by reducing the emission of C02, directed interest towards the use of renewable sources of energy and alternative feedstocks for the chemical industry. This strategy... 

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