Sustainability in the Chemical Industry Grand Challenges and Research Needs (2006) / Chapter Skim
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3. New Chemistries and Processes That Lead to Commercially Viable Alternative Feedstocks to Fossil Fuels
3. New Chemistries and Processes That Lead to Commercially Viable Alternative Feedstocks to Fossil Fuels
Pages 41-53
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From page 41... ...
Over the course of the twentieth century, global political and economic forces initiated significant change. During that time, the United States, and subsequently the global chemical enterprise, moved farther away from renewable sources of carbon-based feedstock and became heavily dependent on fossil fuels -- crude oil and natural gas -- both as a feedstock for commodity chemicals and as a primary energy source.
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From page 42... ...
42 SUSTAINABILITY IN THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY Non-hydro Hydro Renewables Nuclear 100% 80% Natural Gas Produced 60% Wood Energy Total 40% Crude Oil of 20% Percent Coal 0% 1850 1870 1890 1910 1930 1950 1970 1990 FIGURE 3.1 U.S. energy production by source -- 18502000.
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From page 43... ...
2. What feedstock sources are going to be used in the future to produce the basic chemical building blocks of the chemical enterprise (which are required for the production of materials and products consumers demand)
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From page 44... ...
available can support current and future needs for at least another hundred years (Chapter 4, Table 4.1) , at some point there must be a shift from nonrenewable fossil fuels to renewable sources.
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From page 45... ...
This becomes a significant driver for the need to look for alternative sources of feedstocks and fuels. OPPORTUNITIES FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPEMENT Exploring alternative, sustainable feedstocks requires simultaneous consideration with development of alternative energy sources and future fuels, as well as continued improvements in the efficient use of current resources (see Chapter 4 for more detailed discussion of energy)
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From page 46... ...
Because of the competing needs for feedstocks and fuels, it is thus a grand challenge for the chemical enterprise to lead the way in the development of future fuel alternatives. These alternatives could be in the development of hydrogen, landfill gas, and biomass8 fuel sources utilizing fuel cell, wind, solar heating, and photovoltaic technology.
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From page 47... ...
Finally, the chemical enterprise should be a significant player in the development of enabling energy technologies. These include: · Energy storage materials and devices · Materials that improve energy efficiency · Biomass pretreatment processes · Fermentation processes · Separation processes · Water treatment processes All of these enabling technologies are going to be required to bring the innovative technologies from the laboratory to a commercially viable alternative.
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From page 48... ...
Do they lead to what the chemical enterprise currently obtains from fossil fuel sources -- basic aliphatic and aromatic building blocks -- which feed into the products that consumers demand? A fundamental challenge for the sustainability effort 10 U.S.
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From page 49... ...
Stanley Bull, National Renewable Energy Laboratory xx Technologies for Converting Biomass into Chemical Feedstocks While the "catalog" of potential starting chemicals is extremely important, the development of technologies to produce these chemicals is equally important. The chemical enterprise is going to have to address the pretreatment as well as the "breakdown" processes to take the starting biomass material (this could be switch grass, corn, grains, energy cane, water hyacinth, etc.)
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From page 50... ...
Finally, since the handling of biomass materials is different than that of handling fossil fuels, one would anticipate that materials handling issues would also be a fruitful area of research. Mixing, solid handling, and heat transfer are areas where it is anticipated that new process chemistry and engineering technologies will have to be developed.
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From page 51... ...
This is a new lens for the chemical enterprise, which means that there needs to be a fundamental change in thinking regarding how one approaches research -- a need for sustainability literacy (see Chapter 5 for more discussion)
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From page 52... ...
Future fuel alternatives. Because of the competing needs for feedstocks and fuels, clearly, it is a grand challenge for the chemical enterprise to lead the way in the development of future fuel alternatives.
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From page 53... ...
This identifies the need for better separation chemistries that will be required -- particularly aqueous separations as well as concentrating techniques as it is anticipated that many of these platform chemicals will be produced in very dilute mixtures. The dilute mixtures also point to another significant research need -- understanding of water chemistries.
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