7
1
1.3 Comparison with Fossil Raw Materials
In the long term, renewable raw materials can
replace fossil raw materials for the synthesis of
organic materials without us having to significantly change the technologies already known.
The readers of this book should realize that
they live in a very extraordinary “interim”. As
. Fig. 1.4 shows, since the beginning of its existence mankind has only been able to use energies and materials of solar origin (“first solar
period”). We are currently in a very small “fossil
interim period” from a historical point of view,
in which the carbon deposited in the ground in
Coal
Natural gas
Crude oil
Acetylene
Synthesis
gas
Olefins
Aromatics
Lignin
Carbohydrates
Fats
Chemical
Intermediates
and
Products
. Fig. 1.3 Comparison of the paths from the raw materials to the intermediates and end products
- 4
- 3
- 2
- 1
+ 1
+ 2
+ 3
+ 4
Stone Age
Bronze
Age
Iron
Age
Intermediate
fossil period
Solar period 2
Solar period 1
Coal
Crude oil
Natural gas
Renewable raw
materials,
Use of CO 2 ,
H 2 technologies
Renewable raw
materials
Hydropower
Wind power
In our days
Before our times
Millennia
- 5
. Fig. 1.4 Substance and energy sources of mankind over the millennia