The chemical industry is a highly energy intensiveone. In the Netherlands, it represents some 25% of total energy consumption in the form of fossil input and the energy that is needed to convert it into bulk, commodity and fine chemicals. Much of this required energy is needed for the incorporation of oxygen and nitrogen atoms into fossil fuel-typical ‘(hydro)carbon-only’ molecules that lack this heteroatom functionality. Without it, bulk products like polyesters would not exist. By nature, biomass is rich in oxygen and nitrogen atoms.

Dunaliella salina (400 x magnified)

New biomass (unlike the old biomass in oil, coal and gas) is rich in oxygen and nitrogen atoms. This provides a chemical and thermodynamical shortcut to many functionalized compounds. This translates into lower energy input, fewer conversions and a greatly reduced dependence on efficient heat exchange, i.e., the possibility for cost effective production at small scale. This shortcut has always been there, but is now heavily (re)investigated from the realization that the era of cheap and plentiful fossil resources will soon come to an end. The biobased chemical industry is still in its infancy, compared to the century-old petrochemical industry if one compares the width of the bulk & commodity chemicals portfolio. But the potential is huge and progress is fast. Products like (the biofuel) ethanol and (the biofuel by-product) glycerol are increasingly used as platform chemicals for others bulk products. E.g., glycerol can be used to produce propanediol, propylene glycol, branched polyesters, nylons and glyceraldehyde. A new challenge is the production of N-containing compounds that we now look upon as typical petrochemicals. E.g., butane-1,4-diamine can also be produced from the (biobased) amino acid lysine. AFSG Biobased Products has determined that the majority of the bulk & commodity chemicals produced by the petrochemical industry surrounding Rotterdam harbor can be derived from biomass within 10-20 years.
As a feedstock for bulk & commodity chemicals, biomass produced by fast growing algae is ‘as good as any biomass’, as long as it provides the required fatty acids, carbohydrates and/or bulk proteins (i.e. amino acids) at the right price. Given the latter requirement, carbohydrate-derived chemicals would obviously benefit most from algae that mainly produce carbohydrates, particularly those that can be efficiently converted. Likewise, the production of N-containing chemicals would benefit most from protein-rich algae sources, particularly those containing N-rich amino acids like lysine and arginine. Given that there are tens of thousands of algae species, careful selection is the first step to take. This may be further aided by biotechnological tools to actively steer algae metabolism in desired directions.