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Renewable biobased products (bioproducts) are products created from plant- or crop-based resources such as agricultural crops and crop residues, forestry, pastures, and rangelands. Many of the products that could be made from renewable bioproducts are now made from petroleum (e.g., petrochemicals). This is because the basic molecules in petrochemicals are hydrocarbons. In plant resources, the basic molecules are carbohydrates, proteins, and plant oils. Both plant and petroleum molecules can be processed to create building blocks for industry to manufacture a wide variety of consumer goods, including plastics, solvents, paints, adhesives, and drugs. During the last century hydrocarbon feedstocks have dominated as industrial inputs. However, reserves of petroleum are finite and, while expected to last well into the next century, could be significantly depleted as the world population grows and standards of living improve in developing countries. Renewable plant resources will be one way to supplement hydrocarbon resources and meet increasing worldwide needs for consumer goods.
Plant resources, mostly for paper products and chemical feedstocks, now provide about 5 percent of manufacturing inputs. Plant-based chemical products include paints, adhesives, lubricants, inks, polymers, and resins. In many cases, using hydrocarbon resources is much less expensive. For some chemical products plant inputs are already cost-competitive, and they are a significant feedstock. Plant-based systems are the major sources for ethanol, sorbitol, cellulose, citric acid, natural rubber, most amino acids, and all proteins.
Companies from the chemical, life sciences, forestry, and agricultural communities are involved in establishing the renewable bioproducts industry. Their activities range from genetic engineering of new plant species to development of new technologies and processes for converting plants into useful industrial inputs. For example, DuPont recently developed a biobased method that uses corn instead of petroleum-based processes to produce a polymer platform for use in clothing, carpets and automobile interiors. Similarly, Cargill Dow's biorefinery in Blair, Nebraska is producing polylactide (PLA) polymers from corn sugar.
Currently, production of biobased textile fibers, polymers, adhesives, lubricants, soy-based inks, and other products is estimated at 12.4 billion pounds per year (Industrial Bioproducts: Today and Tomorrow, July 2003) (PDF 1.3 MB) Download Acrobat Reader. Total production (biobased and non-biobased), however, is in the hundreds of billions of pounds. The growth opportunities for biobased products are therefore enormous.
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