Insight defines the bigger picture in biorenewables
Business Strategy Group: Insight Opportunities for innovation in platform chemicals, 20 March 2006 Belgrave Square, London, UK
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| Alan Baylis: platform chemicals in context |
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| Peter Lillford: 'The oil economy is 125 years old' |
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| Richard Miller: 'Plants and petrochemicals can compete' |
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| Melvyn Askew: 'One tree in 32 000 exploited for metabolites' |
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| James Clark: 'Let's rebuild the chemical industry' |
More than 60 scientists and industry experts attended SCI’s seminar ‘Opportunities for innovation in platform chemicals – are crops viable alternative sources?’ on 20 March at SCI International Headquarters in Belgrave Square, London. It was an excellent opportunity for delegates (a diverse group of stakeholders) to find out about the science behind the rapidly developing field of biorenewables with respect to chemical feedstocks, as well as the economic, environmental and regulatory drivers from the UK’s leading biorenewables experts.
The seminar, part of the scoping phase of the Insight project, was run by Alan Baylis of SCI’s Business Strategy Group, and Sandy Gray, SCI Vice President, who led the lively discussion session. Baylis began by providing some broad brush context for delegates, specifically that our society can no longer be dependent on oil for fuels and chemical feedstocks. With the approach of ‘peak oil’, coupled with high oil prices, the seminar explored feedstocks as they applied to platform chemicals and biopolymers.
Bush’s renewables push
The subject of biorenewables features prominently on the current US geo-political scene. US President George Bush said recently that he wants America to be independent of Middle Eastern oil, and it is clear that he expects biorenewables to play a key role in this process. By 2020 the US expects 10% of chemical feedstocks to be derived from biomass/biorenewables, and 50% by 2050. The UK lags behind both the US and Europe, and has a lot of work to do to remain competitive, Baylis said.
Peter Lillford of the National Non-Food Crops Centre (NNFCC) reminded us that the oil economy is only 125 years old, and that the economies of modern society result from significant investment and the work of chemists and chemical engineers who found a way to distil oil into its useful constituents. Before the oil revolution, crops provided us with lubricants, fuel and energy.
We have now come full circle and are exploring an old technology to plan for the future. Lillford noted that there has been a massive and rapid change in public awareness about environmental issues, which are finally becoming major drivers.
But for the chemical industry to feel comfortable relying on agriculturalists and crops to provide them with the basic and more elaborate building blocks of their products, major concerns must be addressed. Can biorefineries provide a robust feedstock supply on a commercial scale? Lillford said a commercial-scale pilot plant is needed to demonstrate product performance, process viability and market acceptance. He also believes legislative changes are required, as he doesn’t think market forces can be relied upon alone to change the status quo. Government will need to create incentives to drive industry to adopt renewables as mainstream raw materials.
Language barrier
Richard Miller of the Home Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA) touched on a type of language barrier in this industry – that chemists struggle to see the link between ‘weird stuff in plants’ and the platform chemicals they recognise as building blocks. Despite this, there are a number of plant-based commodities that now ‘compete head to head with petrochemicals and are winning’, according to Miller. These include products derived from vegetable oils, starch, fibre and wood pulp. Biorenewables are starting to have an impact, Miller said.
Melvyn Askew of the Central Science Library/Interactive European Network for Industrial Crops and their Applications (IENICA) also emphasised the need for chemists and agriculturalists to speak each other’s languages, and for industry to be clearer about what the most valuable products might be. He also told us that of the 32 000 metabolites known to exist in trees, only one has been exploited. Askew said: ‘There is a great need for industry to tell basic research scientists what is interesting to them.’ This would in turn help to create the crucial end markets for new biorenewables to succeed.
The talk from James Clark (from the department of green chemistry, University of York) considered the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), and how we might rebuild the chemical industry in the broadest sense around the LCA.
What was clear from all the speakers is that the technology exists to create biorefineries in the UK. These could allow us to use crops for industrial purposes that would be competitive with oil-based refineries. However, lack of infrastructure and government support is a major barrier to large-scale commercial success. Lillford said: ‘The sourcing and supply chain for biomass is a mess.’ Innovation tends to be led by individuals with exciting ideas, rather than large multi-national corporations, so an environment that is receptive to entrepreneurs is also important.
The seminar was the first part of an exploratory phase of the Insight project, and SCI is keen to involve members who are interested in this area. As Baylis said: ‘We want to assemble a group of members interested in using various foresighting methods to build visions of possible futures for the use of biorenewables, understanding the drivers, blockers and relationships needed to shape an attractive future.’ Further research (possibly a workshop) around these issues will follow, and then a paper or conference to be used as dissemination tools.
SCI believes it is well placed at the intersection of science and business to offer a unique and useful perspective on this complicated and rapidly developing area. For more information please visit the Insight pages on the SCI website where many resources are now available, including the speakers’ slides from this event.
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