Professor Matthew Davidson is the director of the Institute of Sustainability and Climate Change of the University of Bath. He visited us today and discussed some of the challenges in making the chemical industry more sustainable and less dependent on fossil resources.
Whereas decarbonisation of the energy sector is feasible through the development of renewable energy, the chemicals sector needs carbon as a building block. However, work is ongoing to decouple the chemical industry from unsustainable fossil resources. This requires a dramatic increase in carbon recycling, as well as sourcing carbon from biomass sources and from carbon capture and storage processes.
Professor Davidson discussed some of the research at the Bath Institute of Sustainability and Climate Change. He primarily focussed on plastics, which account for the largest proportion of carbon in the petrochemical industry. Worldwide production of plastics has been increasing exponentially for decades, and so the transition from fossil to renewable polymers provides a major challenge. Recently, significant advances have been achieved in renewable bio-based platforms for polymer production. New materials are being designed for recyclability, with reduced need for additives, improved environmental and economic performance, as well as enhanced control of the plastic degradation over time. You can read more about this work on the Institute website here.