"In Raw Material, Stephany Wilkes tells not only her own story, but also that of American wool. What begins as a knitter's search for local yarn becomes a dirty, unlikely, and irresistible side job. Wilkes become a certified sheep shearer and wool classer, working at the very first step in the textile supply chain, ultimately leaving her high-tech job for a new way of life considered long dead in the American West."--Provided by publisher.

Petroleum-based industrial products have gradually replaced products derived from biological materials. However, biologically based products are making a comebackâ€"because of a threefold increase in farm productivity and new technologies. Biobased Industrial Products envisions a biobased industrial future, where starch will be used to make biopolymers and vegetable oils will become a routine component in lubricants and detergents. Biobased Industrial Products overviews the U.S. land resources available for agricultural production, summarizes plant materials currently produced, and describes prospects for increasing varieties and yields. The committee discusses the concept of the biorefinery and outlines proven and potential thermal, mechanical, and chemical technologies for conversion of natural resources to industrial applications. The committee also illustrates the developmental dynamics of biobased products through existing examples, as well as products still on the drawing board, and it identifies priorities for research and development.

An excellent overview of industrial carbon and graphite materials, especially their manufacture, use and applications in industry. Following a short introduction, the main part of this reference deals with industrial forms, their raw materials, properties and manifold applications. Featuring chapters on carbon and graphite materials in energy application, and as catalysts. It covers all important classes of carbon and graphite, from polygranular materials to fullerenes, and from activated carbon to carbon blacks and nanoforms of carbon. Indispensable for chemists and engineers working in such fields as steel, aluminum, electrochemistry, nanotechnology, catalyst, carbon fibres and lightweight composites.

This is the first book that analyses the future raw materials supply from the demand side of a society that chiefly relies on renewable energies, which is of great significance for us all. It addresses primary and secondary resources and substitution, not only from technical but also socioeconomic and ethical points of view. The “Energiewende” (Energy Transition) will change our consumption of natural resources significantly. When in future our energy requirements will be covered mostly by wind, solar power and biomass, we will need less coal, oil and natural gas. However, the consumption of minerals, especially metallic resources, will increase to build wind generators, solar panels or energy storage facilities. Besides e.g. copper, nickel or cobalt, rare earth elements and other high-tech elements will be increasingly used. With regard to primary metals, Germany is 100 % import dependent; only secondary material is produced within Germany. Though sufficient geological primary resources exist worldwide, their availability on the market is crucial. The future supply of the market is dependent on the development of prices, the transparency of the market and the question of social and ethical standards in the raw materials industry, as well as the social license to operate, which especially applies to mining. The book offers a valuable resource for everyone interested in the future raw material supply of our way of life, which will involve more and more renewable energies.

One of the main challenges facing the chemical industry is the transition to sustainable operations. Industries are taking initiatives to reduce resource intensities or footprints, and by adopting safer materials and processes. Such efforts need to be supported by techniques that can quantify the broad economic and environmental implications of industrial operations, retrofi t options and provide new design alternatives. This contemporary overview focuses on cradle-to-grave life cycle assessments of existing or conceptual processes for producing valueadded fuels, chemicals, and/or materials from renewable agricultural residues, plant-derived starches and oils, lignocellulosic biomass, and plant-based industrial processing wastes. It presents the key concepts, systems, and technologies, with an emphasis on new feedstocks for the chemical industry. Each chapter uses common themes of specifi c raw materials, thus forming a natural progression throughout the book. The result is coverage from a wide range of perspectives, emphasizing not only the technical issues but also considering the market place and socio-economic aspects.