Abstract
This report identifies the chemicals that are produced from biomass today and compares them with those that are prepared from fossil feedstocks. Furthermore, the report examines how this source of chemicals may grow in the future. Areas where competition now or in the future is likely to occur are pointed out.
Chemicals can be obtained from biomass in many different ways and for many reasons. They can be obtained for their own value as the major product desired from the production and processing of biomass. At the other extreme, they can be obtained as a relatively trivial product, economically speaking, of other operations that process biomass such as the food or forest product industries. For certain segments of the chemical industry, however, these materials are hardly considered trivial since they form the most economic source of various chemical species. (Read more)
