Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
aromatic rings as functional groups. As a result, further chemical modifications,
such as oxidation (from air), are required to introduce chemical complexity and
allow the production of a broader set of commodity chemicals. Total production of
these base chemicals exceeded 360 million tonnes in 2010; it is estimated that
around 3.6 billion tonnes of crude oil was produced in the same year, showing that
around 10% of global crude oil is directed to base chemical production [11, 12].
Sulphur and ammonia are sometimes also considered as base chemicals due to their
large-scale production (77 million and 134 million tonnes in 2010, respectively)
and link to fossil resources (hydrogen gas H
2
for NH
3
production from syngas and
sulphur from desulphurisation of fossil fuels), but are not discussed here in order to
simplify the comparison to biomass-derived platform molecules. The sulphur
content of biomass is less than that of typical fossil fuels and may therefore bring
about a supply chain issue in a future chemical industry more reliant on biomass as
a feedstock. Conversion of biomass into syngas is possible and, as such, bio-derived
ammonia is a mid- to long-term possibility for a sustainable bio-based economy
assuming the volumes required can be supplied by the available biomass.
A successful bio-based chemical industry needs to be able to generate an
equivalent quantity and diversity of starting materials and final products as those
seen from the petrochemical industry. It is for this reason that routes to simple
building-block chemicals from biomass, to replace the base chemicals, is currently
under extensive investigation by numerous research groups and chemical
companies across the globe. Regional, national and international funding bodies
are also now significantly supporting research efforts in the field of bio-based and
sustainable chemicals. We are clearly in the midst of a bio-based revolution, one
where platform molecules will play a fundamental role.
4.3 Definition of a Platform Molecule
The majority of research articles in the field of platform molecules make reference to
the US DOE reports described above. There has been a lack of consensus regarding
the definition of a platform molecule however, and the US DOE provided no such
definition. Several research articles, reports, patents and topics have been published
using a range of different terms when referring to building-block chemicals produced
from biomass, which we refer to here as bio-based platform molecules. Some exam-
ples of the terms that have been used are listed below:
• bio-platform molecules [19];
• platform molecules [20];
• biomass-based platform chemicals [21];
• biomass-derived platform molecules [22];
• base chemicals from biomass [23];
• building-block chemicals from biomass [3]; and
• platforms (e.g. syngas platform, triglyceride platform).
