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 CO₂ 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

中文翻译：

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新世界中燃料和化学品的生产：原油和生物质之间的选择与可持续性和环境的批判性分析

摘要

能源和环境是密切相关且备受争议的问题。今天以原油为基础的燃料、化学品和材料制造经济不会有可持续的未来。石油产品的过度使用对环境造成了极大的破坏。面对维持社会经济发展和缩小化学品和燃料制造对环境的影响的双重挑战，主要重点是将生物质转化为低价值、高产量的生物燃料，或者将其精炼成广泛的产品。使用碳作为燃料是一种有缺陷的方法，不太可能实现任何国家的社会经济或环境目标。生物质在化学和地理上与现有的炼油和管道基础设施不相容，在大多数国家，目前形式的生物精炼和生物燃料生产将无法实现规模经济。原油、生物质和页岩气在生产燃料、增值化学品和大宗化学品方面的协同使用可能会持续一段时间。然而，碳不应用作燃料或能源的来源，而应用于其他产品。在控制 CO₂排放中，氢气将发挥关键作用。氢气最适合将来自不同来源的废弃生物质和二氧化碳（无论是化石燃料衍生的碳还是生物质衍生的碳）转化为燃料和化学品，而且它本身作为能源也将导致碳负情景与其他可再生非碳源相结合。这种燃料和化学品生产的新模式不仅为生物质和页岩气提供了最大的货币化潜力，而且还可以缩减产量并改善炼油厂的原子和能源经济。我们还强调了技术差距，旨在推动这些方向的研发。

图形摘要