Fossil Fuel and Feedstock Replacement Materials

Approximately 90% of oil extracted from the Earth is used to produce petroleum; the remainder is used to make everything from convenience plastics to life-saving pharmaceuticals, and the demand for all of these is set to rise.

Materials chemists can help to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels and feedstocks in a number of ways.

• Methods to efficiently extract petroleum from low-quality sources can be developed

• Improved catalytic and separation processes can be designed and optimised that enable us to efficiently and sustainably utilise syngas, methane, biological feedstocks and even carbon dioxide as fossil fuel alternatives

• Polymers made from new and unique biomass feedstocks may eventually overtake petrochemical-derived plastics in terms of superior properties and functionality