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Renewable Resources: Summary and Further Reading


The advantages of using biomass as a chemical feedstock are manifold and a wide range of bio-derived chemicals are already available on the market. However, it is essential that green methodologies are applied to the production of these bio-derived chemicals to ensure that they are genuinely sustainable. It is also critical that they are assessed within a lifecycle context to include the wider implications e.g. in terms of land use and competition with food.

Recommended reading:

J. H. Clark and F. Deswarte, Introduction to Chemicals from Biomass, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester, UK, 2ndnd edn., 2015.

J. H. Clark, Green and Sustainable Chemistry: An Introduction, in Green and Sustainable Medicinal Chemistry: Methods, Tools and Strategies for the 21st Century Pharmaceutical Industry, The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2016, ch. 1, pp. 1-11.