Commodity potential energy

Energy is not the commodity we value potential energy (availability) is. 

Outlook. Since natural gas became a commodity of commerce and its potential as an energy form was recognized, its use on a worldwide basis has continued to increase. Adequate proven reserves have been developed and the necessary production and deflvery infrastmctures have been estabUshed... 

Risk-shifting potential—the contract must provide the ability tor those with price risk in the underlying item to shift that risk to a market participant willing to accept It. In the energy world, commercial producers, traders, refiners, distributors and consumers need to be able to plan ahead, and frequently enter into commitments to buy or sell energy commodities many months in advance. 

Growing scarcity of fresh water in many places in this country and the rest of the world has stimulated the development of several potentially useful processes for saline water demineralization. Because fresh water is such a cheap commodity, these processes must demonstrate the maximum conceivable economy to compete with even the most expensive natural fresh water sources. Nearly all of these methods require considerable energy, either as heat or as electric power. Since this is a large cost item in these processes, solar distillation offers substantial operating economies, but at the expense of large investment requirement. 

Many industrial organic acids can be produced by fermentation, such as acetic, citric, and lactic acids. Succinic acid is a dicarboxylic acid of potential industrial interest as a platform chemical (1-3). Separation and purification of succinic acid by adsorption was tested to replace current precipitation methods and their associated waste disposal problems. Succinic acid is a valuable intermediate value chemical with a moderate market. For succinic acid to have an economic and energy impact, it will need to become a commodity chemical intermediate with a much lower price. This target price hasbeen estimated to be between 0.22 and 0.30 / lb ( 0.48- 0.66/kg) and is potentially achievable with advanced technology (1). At this price, succinic acid can be catalytically upgraded into other higher valued chemicals suchastetrahydrofuran, 1,4-butanediol, y-butyrolactone, 2-pyrrolidinone, and N-methylpyrrolidinone. 

Notice that, in each of the above examples, the proportionality factor between the commodity current and the associated energy current turns out to be the "potential" which drives the commodity through the conduit. 

However, it is in the possible future markets for methanol that this commodity s major growth potential lies. Figure 9 depicts methanols unique versatility in todays energy picture. 

The potential environmental and economic advantages that biocatalysts promise certainly warrant the necessary investments required to overcome the energy barriers of reducing biocatalysis to practice in the synthesis of both commodity and fine chemicals. The last quarter-century has brought extensive advancement is the field of biocatalysis and the next quarter-century promises to yield further advances. 

Successful large-scale production of PHA is largely determined by the availability and constant supply of cheap fermentative substrates. At the same time, the overall cost involved in the production of this biodegradable polymeric material needs to be controlled and reduced in order to penetrate and compete in the world s commodity market. Palm oil has been identified as suitable carbon feedstock and potential strains capable of utilizing this raw material have been discussed in the above sections. However, waste disposals from palm oil mill and the amount of energy needed for PHA production are other issues that require equivalent attention when PHA is produced in large scale. 

Biodiesel, being a high-volume product, currently results in large amounts of glycerol by-product which can be used as a feedstock for commodity chemical products, feed applications, materials, and energy. The EU-funded Sustoil [17] project has identified a number of potential applications for glycerol which could result in commercial opportunities. Some of the appUcations of glycerol are discussed later in this chapter. 

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