The production of fuels and chemicals in the new world: critical analysis of the choice between crude oil and biomass vis-à-vis sustainability and the environment

ABSTRACT: Energy and the environment are intimately related and hotly debated issues. Today’s crude oil-based economy for the manufacture of fuels, chemicals and materials will not have a sustainable future. The over-use of oil products has done a great damage to the environment. Faced with the twin challenges of sustaining socioeconomic development and shrinking the environmental footprint of chemicals and fuel manufacturing, a major emphasis is on either converting biomass into low-value, high-volume biofuels or refining it into a wide spectrum of products. Using carbon for fuel is a flawed approach and unlikely to achieve any nation’s socioeconomic or environmental targets. Biomass is chemically and geographically incompatible with the existing refining and pipeline infrastructure, and biorefining and biofuels production in their current forms will not achieve economies of scale in most nations. Synergistic use of crude oil, biomass, and shale gas to produce fuels, value-added chemicals, and commodity chemicals, respectively, can continue for some time. However, carbon should not be used as a source of fuel or energy but be valorized to other products. In controlling CO(2) emissions, hydrogen will play a critical role. Hydrogen is best suited for converting waste biomass and carbon dioxide emanated from different sources, whether it be fossil fuel-derived carbon or biomass-derived carbon, into fuels and chemicals as well as it will also lead, on its own as energy source, to the carbon negative scenario in conjunction with other renewable non-carbon sources. This new paradigm for production of fuels and chemicals not only offers the greatest monetization potential for biomass and shale gas, but it could also scale down output and improve the atom and energy economies of oil refineries. We have also highlighted the technology gaps with the intention to drive R&D in these directions. We believe this article will generate a considerable debate in energy sector and lead to better energy and material policy across the world. GRAPHIC ABSTRACT: [Image: see text] ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s10098-020-01945-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.