Chemistry of renewables : an introduction

This book is the English version of a text- book on renewable raw materials that was published in German by Springer Spektrum at the beginning of 2018. Due to the great success in the German-speak- ing world, the two authors have decided to publish an extended and updated ver- sion in English. The content of the book is based on a lecture that the authors have been giving at the TU Dortmund Univer- sity (Germany) for many years. The book offers the reader an introduction to the different groups of renewable raw materi- als, especially fats and oils, carbohydrates and terpenoids. Also, more specific topics such as lignin and natural pharmaceuti- cals, as well as colorants and fragrances, are addressed. Individual chapters are dedicated to current topics such as biopolymers or biorefineries. All sections focus on the chemical conversion of raw materials into valuable products. Also, technical aspects such as the methods of recovery or the industrial processing of the reactions are discussed. One of the authors, Prof. Behr, worked in the chemical industry for several years and acquired considerable experience in the process development of new processes with fats and oils, carbohydrates and terpe- nes. In addition, he has successfully carried out numerous research projects on these topics at the Technical University of Dort- mund over the past 20 years. This unique knowledge from practice and research is passed on to the readers in this book. This textbook is intended for students of natural and engineering sciences as well as for practitioners. The book is unique in such a way that students can follow up well on their lectures or acquire the cur- riculum chapter by chapter in self-study. Practitioners can quickly learn about important raw materials, products and processes, and can familiarize themselves more deeply with individual topics from the references.