A indústria petroquímica no próximo século: como substituir o petróleo como matéria-prima?

• Autor(a) principal: Schuchardt,Ulf
• Data de Publicação: 2001
• Outros Autores: Ribeiro,Marcelo L., Gonçalves,Adilson R.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Química Nova (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100-40422001000200016
• topic: biomass; petrochemical industry; substitution of petroleum

The world reserves of petroleum will finish in about 100 years. For a tropical country like Brazil, biomass will be the natural substitute for petroleum. For the best utilization of biomass, it first needs to be separated into its principal components: cellulose, hemicelluloses, lignins, vegetable and essential oils, non-structural carbohydrates, bark and foliage. All feedstocks for the chemical industry can be obtained from these biomass components, as shown in the first part of this paper. In the second part we discuss how the major products from petrochemicals can be obtained from the different biomass components. We show that Brazil can use different strategies, compared to other countries, to obtain petrochemical products, which could result in innovations. However, it is necessary that the government starts to invest immediately in order to keep the petrochemical industries competitive with foreign industries, so that they continue to be one of Brazil's major employers.