Fossil raw materials

Surface-active compounds, especially the anionic surfactants, are derived from fossil raw materials as well as from recent raw materials. The portion of the biomass on the production of anionic surfactants is about 75% if the soap, the quantitatively most important anionic surfactant, is included. Considering only the synthetic surfactants, the syndets, the portion of fossil raw materials in the production of these surfactants, is about 75%. Without the lignosulfonates (and the petroleum sulfonates) this portion is about 90%. Due to strong efforts... 

The present overreliance of the chemical industry on fossil raw materials has its foreseeable limits, as these materials are depleting and are irreplaceable. The basic question today is not When will affordable fossil fuels be exhausted —fossil... 

In view of the necessity for getting waste disposal under control coupled with the limited fossil raw material resources, biodegradable polymer and in particular polymers from renewable resources will gain importance in the future. In the most sensitive application area, food contact materials and articles, it is possible initially to use these materials in very limited amounts. The easy decomposition of these packaging materials is in opposition with the inertness needed to protect packaged food. These polymers are particularly sensitive to moisture. By finishing operations such as surface treatments, one could improve the inertness of these polymers. However, the degradability would be diminished by such processes. 

In Germany, approximately 4.1% of all fossil raw materials and 14% of the crude oil demand were used in 2008 as feedstock for material use in the chemical industry, together 17 million t [4], In contrast, the total energy demand in Germany was 224 million t [5]. 

On a worldwide basis, wood constitutes an enormous, renewable raw material resource (biomass) for production of energy and chemical products. In connection with wood-processing industries large amounts of both solid residues and dissolved material remain as waste. A rational utilization of this organic waste is of utmost importance not only from the pollution point of view, but also because of the necessity of finding substitutes for products based on petroleum and other fossile raw materials, all expensive and limited in supply. 

Hydrogen is by far the most widespread element in the universe, but on Earth (litho-, bio- and atmosphere) it is only the ninth most common element with 1% by weight (or 15 atomic %). Hydrogen is almost exclusively present as water, hydrates, in the biomass and in fossilized raw materials. 

The industry should commit itself long term to becoming carbon neutral (system condition 1 - plastics are currently produced with petroleum and natural gas as raw materials which amount to around 3 percent of the total use of these fossil raw materials). 

In addition to these substantial differences, several barriers currently impede the market entry of renewable resources Predominantly today s chemical industry is orientated towards fossil raw materials and thus the existing processes are incompatible with the new resources. Currently, the use of renewable resources leads to disadvantages in price compared with crude oil. Further, the qualitative and quantitative availability of the natural products hampers a major breakthrough. The supply and the composition of the renewables often change with year and location. Additionally, some renewable resources with special properties, such as palm oil, cannot be cultivated everywhere because of unfavorable climatic conditions and must therefore be imported via long routes. Furthermore, the increasing competition between using crops for food and feed on the one hand and for biofuels on the other hand causes ethical problems. 

The main part of the carbon employed is consumed for fueling and in the steel industry. The combustion of fossil raw materials alone absorbs the largest fraction of the hauled carbon, but besides that there is a multitude of applications of its different modifications. 

The procedure of using electricity in the electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen is not competitive with the methods of extracting the hydrogen from fossil raw materials. The overall efficiency then is no higher than approx. 35 %. Electrolysis is applied when cheap electricity is available or high-purity hydrogen is desired [4]. 

As can be seen from the reaction equations, the splitting of water requires different amounts of energy dependent on how much of the carbon contained in the (fossil) raw materials is converted into CO2. The energy released during this conversion is consumed in the splitting process and does not need to be introduced from outside. The theoretical energies required for the production of 1 Nm of hydrogen are listed in Table 5-4. 

In the longer term, an oil shortage can be expected in 40 to 50 years, and this will result in increased use of natural gas. The fossil fuel with the longest future is coal, with reserves for more than 500 years. The question whether natural gas reserves in the form of methane hydrate, in which more carbon is stored than in other fossil raw materials, will be recoverable in the future cannot be answered at present, since these lie in geographically unfavorable areas (permafrost regions, continental shelves of the oceans, deep sea). 

Table 1 gives a summary of the worldwide consumption of fossil raw material (natural gas, crude oil, coal), fissile raw material (uranium), commercialized renewable energies... 

Table 1 Worldwide consumption of fossil raw material and renewable energies.

Table 2 indicates the distribution of use of the fossil raw material in large sectors thermal, electrical and mechanical energy production, chemical and parachemical industries, metallurgical industries. 

The different themes discussed in this chapter, relating to gas-phase thermal reactions Use of fossil raw material. 

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