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Preface
Over the past few decades the ratio of production to new discoveries has gradually
fallen and is currently estimated to about three to one. For every discovered barrel
of oil, we consume three. At the same time, more and more regions of the world are
seeking high-quality lifestyles that are resource intensive. Until relatively recently (about
30 years ago), high consumption of energy was reserved for the developed economies
of the “West.” Since then, rapid development of other countries such as China, India,
and Brazil has resulted in a huge increase in demand for energy sources worldwide.
The entire population of OECD countries is estimated as about 1.25 billion people,
and their primary energy use as 4.37 toe per capita. When China, India, and Brazil,
altogether about 2.75 billion people, approach even conservative “European” levels
of fossil resources usage (3.29 toe per capita), an additional supply exceeding current
use of all OECD countries will be required. It is difficult to envisage how this demand
could be met with nonrenewable resources in the medium to long term. It is therefore
evident that resources at our disposal are shrinking fast. Moreover, most of these
petroleum polymers are not biodegradable and, thus, cannot be decomposed naturally.
Furthermore, the addition of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere at the end of its life cycle
has increased the need to use materials from renewable and CO 2 -neutral resources.
There is more carbohydrate on earth than all other organic materials combined.
Carbohydrates are readily biodegradable and tend to degrade in biologically active
environments like soil, sewage, and marine locations where bacteria are active. How-
ever, the basic construct of biopolymer matrices remains a virtually insurmountable
obstacle to the “best laid plans of mice and men” of providing products to compete with
petro-based chemicals and associated commodity items. A more robust and precise
understanding of the factors that limit the widespread use of lignocellulosic substrates
in society is perhaps the most pressing challenge that the emergent bio-economy faces.
The goal, therefore, of this book is to elucidate the fundamental physicochemistry and
characterization of the biomaterials, emphasize their value proposition for supplanting
petrochemicals, tackle the challenges of conversion, and ultimately provide a milieu
of possibilities for the biomaterials. The reader will be conversant and knowledgeable
of the critical issues that surround the field of lignocellulosic intransigence, possible
successful strategies to cope with their inertness, and potential pathways for the
successful use of lignocellulosics and starch in the new bio-economy.
