Trabalhos

THE PETROCHEMICAL INDUSTRY IN THE NEXT CENTURY: HOW TO REPLACE PETROLEUM
AS RAW MATERIAL. 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.
Keywords: biomass; petrochemical industry; substitution of petroleum.
Quim. Nova, Vol. 24, No. 2, 247-251, 2001. Divulgação
INTRODUÇÃO
As reservas mundiais de petróleo irão acabar dentro dos pró- ximos 100 anos
1
. Precisamos, portanto, procurar desde já substitutos para o petróleo como matéria-prima para a indústria quí- mica. No início de abril de 2000 já temos um preço de barril de petróleo acima de US$ 30, o que tende a se tornar rotina de nosso dia-a-dia. Este alto preço do petróleo torna substitutos como etanol e biodiesel economicamente viáveis no setor energético. Segundo previsões, o consumo de petróleo irá aumentar significativamente até por volta do ano 2014, quando então o preço do barril deverá subir tanto que forçará a diminui- ção do consumo
2
. Nessa ocasião seria recomendável que possu- íssemos tecnologia para a substituição do petróleo como fonte de insumos e