- The platform chemicals concept is to
establish routes from biomass to new and existing petrochemical
products.
- These are the basic building blocks for
the basic petrochemical industry, which produces a wide variety of
commodity chemicals. These commodity or bulk chemicals, in turn, are
used for an even wider array of fine chemicals and polymers.
- There are two main ways to produce
equivalent platform chemicals to those from fossil derived sources:
Arriving to the same chemical structure or finding a chemical that
can perform the same duties.
- Advances in biotechnology are enabling the
optimization of feedstock composition and agronomic characteristics
and the development of new and improved fermentation organisms for
conversion of biomass to new end products or intermediates.
- The hydrogen and carbon containing
platform chemicals are either used as solvents (e.g. benzene,
toluene), as starting material for polymers (e.g. ethylene,
propylene, butadiene) or are further functionalised with elements
such as oxygen, nitrogen or chlorine.
- The production of chemicals from biomass
presents higher mass and carbon theoretical efficiency, and it seems
an interesting alternative to provide a renewable path for globally
and widely demanded platform chemicals like phenols, solvents
(Acetone), soft plastic precursor (Polyethylene) and hard plastic
precursor (Polypropylene).
- Industrial biobased products have enormous
potential in the chemical and material industries. The diversity of
biomass feedstocks (sugars, oils, protein, lignocellulosics),
combined with the numerous biochemical and thermochemical conversion
technologies, can provide a wealth of products that can be used in
many applications.
- Research has shown that a number of the
platform chemicals that supply advanced manufacturing may be
generated from biological sources . The chemical products that can
be derived from the biorefinery have the potential to become a
significant part of Canada’s economy in the future. The potential
Canadian market for industrial chemical bioproducts has been
estimated at about $1.7 billion/year.
- Investment in renewable chemicals is
increasing. Many companies have been working for years to move
promising laboratory-based technologies that convert renewable
feedstocks into value-added commodity and specialty products into
commercial-scale production.
- The polymer market is currently the
strongest area for renewable chemicals investment. With a polylactic
acid (PLA) production capacity of 140,000 tonnes per year,
Natureworks is the leading global producer of synthetic bio-based
polymers.
- The market for (bulk) chemicals is about
one billion tonnes per year. About one quarter of this volume are
functionalized and may be produced from plants in one way or the
other.
- If 20 % of the harvested plants components
are used to obtain platform chemicals, the other 80% may be
converted to transport fuel e.g. ethanol and what cannot be
converted can be used to make biogas or burnt directly to
electricity.
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