Renewable Raw Materials, Fossil Feedstocks, and the Circular Economy – An Introduction

Abstract

It is widely understood that industrial chemistry is based on fossil raw materials. However, this view ignores the fact that renewable raw materials have also experienced a boom since the 1970s as alternative feedstocks for industrial chemistry and nutrients for industrial fermentation and industrial biotechnology in general. During growth, renewable resources absorb carbon dioxide. Whilst these resources are kept in the technical material system, they act as carbon storage. When they are ultimately managed as waste, e.g. incinerated, or composted, they will not contribute to net emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, as opposed to fossil-based products. However, nearly 30 years after the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, insufficient progress has been made on almost all global environmental problems, especially emissions of climate-relevant gases such as CO2, deforestation, soil degradation, and mass extinction of species, calling for a change of mindset away from an “ego-centric” worldview towards an “eco-centric” worldview. In this sense, renewable raw materials and resources used in the technical cycle link the concepts of bioeconomy and circular economy.