9
1
1.4 Advantages and Disadvantages of Renewable Raw Materials
natural gas at the drilling site and transport it
in pipelines, cellulose-containing tree trunks
or starchy potatoes first have to be laboriously
collected on a large area of forest or arable land
and then transported to a central processing site.
The same applies if you want to get any residual
material, such as sawdust from numerous sawmills or straw from many individual fields. The
procurement of renewable raw materials is therefore usually connected with complex (expensive)
transport measures.
An important question in chemical industry
is always the economic efficiency of a chemical
process. The most beautiful chemistry is not carried out industrially if the customer is not willing
to pay the price of the product. . Table 1.3 has
shown us that products based on renewable raw
materials in the order of 2.7 million tons per year
are already manufactured and sold in Germany.
The economic efficiency of these products must
therefore be guaranteed. But does this generally
apply to all renewable raw materials? Let us look
at . Table 1.4, which lists the purchase prices for
some important basic chemicals based on fossil or renewable raw materials. These prices are
often subject to significant fluctuations. The values in this table are not based on current daily
prices, but we are only interested in the order of
magnitude and the rough value comparison of
the products with each other.
. Table 1.4 shows us that the large basic
chemicals based on crude oil, the olefins ethene
and propene as well as the aromatics benzene
and toluene, both in terms of production volumes and prices, are of a similar order of magnitude as the large products from the range of
renewable raw materials, e.g. cellulose or sucrose.
However, some renewable raw materials, e.g. the
sugars d-xylose and l-sorbose, are currently only
produced in small quantities and also have significantly higher prices. In the case of renewable
raw materials, it therefore depends very much on
the purposes for which they are to be used. An
expansive starting compound can only be used if
the product justifies this price.
lubricating oils based on natural oils and fats
are ecologically degradable and can therefore also be used safely in nature, e.g. for the
lubrication of chainsaws in forestry operations.
However, one must also consider this statement
with caution: Products made from renewable raw materials are not automatically easily
degradable, as even small molecular changes
can cause a change in the degradation behavior.
A “bioproduct” must therefore also be carefully
tested for degradability or toxicity.
5 In the last decade, one problem has played
an important role in Germany’s agricultural
policy: the use of fallow arable land. Due to
overproduction in Europe, not all agricultural land is used, and thus, the possibility
arises to use these industrially for materially
used plants, so-called industrial plants,
or for energetically used plants, so-called
energy plants. These measures can help to
strengthen the agricultural economy and
maintain or create new jobs in rural areas.
5 Another major advantage of renewable raw
materials has already been briefly mentioned
during the discussion of . Fig. 1.3: Renewable raw materials have relative complex
structures that the chemist can use directly
for specific purposes, without the complex
synthesis steps required in the petrochemical industry. A well-known example of this
is the synthesis of soaps, the alkali salts of
long-chained carboxylic acids: While they
are derived from alkenes or alkanes only in
numerous steps, they can be produced in
oleochemical industry in a single step by
saponifying the fats and oils with caustic
soda or potassium hydroxide solution. The
synthesis power of nature is fully utilized for
the desired end product and costly synthesis
steps are omitted.
A major disadvantage of renewable raw materials is often their procurement and logistics.
While it is relatively easy to extract crude oil or
1
1.4 Advantages and Disadvantages of Renewable Raw Materials
natural gas at the drilling site and transport it
in pipelines, cellulose-containing tree trunks
or starchy potatoes first have to be laboriously
collected on a large area of forest or arable land
and then transported to a central processing site.
The same applies if you want to get any residual
material, such as sawdust from numerous sawmills or straw from many individual fields. The
procurement of renewable raw materials is therefore usually connected with complex (expensive)
transport measures.
An important question in chemical industry
is always the economic efficiency of a chemical
process. The most beautiful chemistry is not carried out industrially if the customer is not willing
to pay the price of the product. . Table 1.3 has
shown us that products based on renewable raw
materials in the order of 2.7 million tons per year
are already manufactured and sold in Germany.
The economic efficiency of these products must
therefore be guaranteed. But does this generally
apply to all renewable raw materials? Let us look
at . Table 1.4, which lists the purchase prices for
some important basic chemicals based on fossil or renewable raw materials. These prices are
often subject to significant fluctuations. The values in this table are not based on current daily
prices, but we are only interested in the order of
magnitude and the rough value comparison of
the products with each other.
. Table 1.4 shows us that the large basic
chemicals based on crude oil, the olefins ethene
and propene as well as the aromatics benzene
and toluene, both in terms of production volumes and prices, are of a similar order of magnitude as the large products from the range of
renewable raw materials, e.g. cellulose or sucrose.
However, some renewable raw materials, e.g. the
sugars d-xylose and l-sorbose, are currently only
produced in small quantities and also have significantly higher prices. In the case of renewable
raw materials, it therefore depends very much on
the purposes for which they are to be used. An
expansive starting compound can only be used if
the product justifies this price.
lubricating oils based on natural oils and fats
are ecologically degradable and can therefore also be used safely in nature, e.g. for the
lubrication of chainsaws in forestry operations.
However, one must also consider this statement
with caution: Products made from renewable raw materials are not automatically easily
degradable, as even small molecular changes
can cause a change in the degradation behavior.
A “bioproduct” must therefore also be carefully
tested for degradability or toxicity.
5 In the last decade, one problem has played
an important role in Germany’s agricultural
policy: the use of fallow arable land. Due to
overproduction in Europe, not all agricultural land is used, and thus, the possibility
arises to use these industrially for materially
used plants, so-called industrial plants,
or for energetically used plants, so-called
energy plants. These measures can help to
strengthen the agricultural economy and
maintain or create new jobs in rural areas.
5 Another major advantage of renewable raw
materials has already been briefly mentioned
during the discussion of . Fig. 1.3: Renewable raw materials have relative complex
structures that the chemist can use directly
for specific purposes, without the complex
synthesis steps required in the petrochemical industry. A well-known example of this
is the synthesis of soaps, the alkali salts of
long-chained carboxylic acids: While they
are derived from alkenes or alkanes only in
numerous steps, they can be produced in
oleochemical industry in a single step by
saponifying the fats and oils with caustic
soda or potassium hydroxide solution. The
synthesis power of nature is fully utilized for
the desired end product and costly synthesis
steps are omitted.
A major disadvantage of renewable raw materials is often their procurement and logistics.
While it is relatively easy to extract crude oil or