14: Feeding the Anthrosphere- Utilizing Renewable and Biological Materials
- Page ID
- 285380
"For approximately one century from the early 1900s to the early 2000s, petroleum-based feedstocks gave rise to a vast petrochemicals industry that resulted in the production of synthetic rubber, plastics, polymers with a variety of properties, pesticides and literally hundreds of other products, many of which replaced materials biosynthesized in nature, especially by plants. Now with diminishing petroleum supplies, a new generation of materials made from biomaterials such as the lignocellulose that composes plant structural matter is developing that will take the place of many of the petroleum-based chemicals. This massive shift to renewable feedstocks is leading to a new age of green chemistry.”