Prof. Abdennaceur Karoui

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Last Updated: Thursday, 11 June 2020 13:34

Switching the Utilization of Hydrocarbons

from Polluting Energy Sources to Benin Super-Materials

Since the antiquity hydrocarbons have been extensively utilized to produce energy in efficient enough ways, starting with making fire, lighting habitats, and then as weapon. Because of the easiness of the technology and the abundance of hydrocarbons compared to the then small population, this practice has accelerated dramatically. With the industrial revolution energy started to be used to power vehicles, which increased the energy consumption exponentially; the trend has not relaxed since then.

     The question “Why it has become urgent to move away from burning hydrocarbon materials and to adopt renewable energy (RE) technologies?” has not been debated thus far. Only, components of this fundamental question have been discussed in length, but separately, in national and international scientific and engineering venues at the thought, practical, and policies levels. No emphasis has ever been put on the true value of hydrocarbons. The understanding of these questions would elevate hydrocarbons to their exact values, like any other precious material, and would prevent dilapidating the remaining resources.

     The eye-opener oil crisis and the shrinkage of hydrocarbon natural reserves have convinced many stakeholders that RE technologies are the only solutions we could envision; and in the current horizon, they are, in fact, the only left for human survival. However, on the implementation ground and technology scale-up, widely accepted concepts and proved RE technologies are facing extreme challenges. Though many RE solutions have been proved to be economic and are readily available in the market, RE are receiving limited support, which has left brave entrepreneurs wrestling with the difficult economic realities. In the contrary, RE technologies have been under stern opposition that stems from strong utility and oil companies and their lobbies. These harsh situations often pushes entrepreneurs to distort the technology objectives in order to accommodate these realities.

     It must be noted that hydrocarbons offer tremendous benefits as non-energy materials, these are often neglected or completely removed from the debate. Hydrocarbon materials have been already thriving in many non-energy sectors and countless applications, where hydrocarbons are utilized as base materials. Unfortunately, this important aspect is not clarified to the public and the true values of hydrocarbons remain buried. As non-energy materials, hydrocarbons are indeed more valuable than as energy source, a one-time use. The great values of hydrocarbons should strongly support the call for hydrocarbon preservation and, by the same token, should strengthen the broadening of alternative energy produced by RE technologies. But, in reality, as the hydrocarbon superior values are not factored in the economy, neither their preservation is taken into account nor could it boost the switching to RE technologies. The reasons of whether there are no mechanisms to do that or they are intentionally neglected, are out of the scope of this discussion. More benefit for not using hydrocarbons for energy production do exist, in particular it will prevent CO2 emission, while it will preserve them as high-value materials for more valuable and critical applications. This huge argument is also not factored when calling for building and using alternative energy sources.

     Only when hydrocarbon true prices are recognized in the market that we could hope to preserve them for the right use. Possibly, a new economic theory is needed, by which one could reevaluate hydrocarbon prices. Such theory could start from the end-products obtained from hydrocarbons. Also price lining-up with similar products, such as vegetable oils could help understanding the differences between these prices, which are artificial anyway, tough well established and stuck in our minds. Currently, vegetable oil costs 10 to 20 times more than crude fossil oil, which is not right at all. Refinement of crude oil and extraction of secondary organic products are not very expensive. Actually, refined gas for cars costs between 5 and 10 times less than vegetable oils, which begs for a new look at the prices of hydrocarbons. This glimpse into oil price, is far from initiating an economic theory for reevaluating the true price of fossil hydrocarbons, but it is only to bring attention of the readers on one of the reasons of the on-going abuse of fossil hydrocarbons and why we are vehemently burning them, without thinking about the mid- and long term consequences.

     Applications where fossil hydrocarbons are essential ingredients span the sectors of organic chemicals, silicones, glues, solid materials, composites, coatings,… fertilizers, pesticides, biochemicals, drug manufacturing, aromas, culture of micro-organisms for food production,[[i]] biogenesis of lipids for biogas production,[[ii]]… dynamite for civil engineering, paints, all kinds of plastics, artificial fibers for textiles, artificial leather, artificial rubber, shoes, foams for insulation, mattresses,… car industry, electric cables, conduits,… nanomaterials, optical fibers, electronics, optoelectronics, organic LEDs (OLED) displays, flexible electronics, future carbon-electronics, photovoltaic modules, future solar cells,… roads, roofing, building industry,... Sadly, despite the high values of hydrocarbons, they are being burned to produce energy, the old way, and industry is not prepared to quit this practice for decades to come. Not to forget that burning hydrocarbons is a one-time action that leads to a forever loss; whatever was burnt will never be brought back. The facts that hydrocarbons are used to make fertilizers and pesticides, can be transformed in nutritive elements and other compounds for food production as well as pharmaceutical ingredients, etc., are strong arguments to dearly preserve hydrocarbons and stop burning them unnecessarily in cars. This is not to say that we would cut or lock transportation, but we must fulfil the energy needs in transportation with modern transformative technologies powered with renewable energy sources.

     One has to recognize that the well-established legacy energy infrastructure naturally causes a strong resistance against the much needed push for a broader adoption of RE technologies. In these antagonist situations, both the lack of conscious businesses and the facile gains led policy makers into wrong paths of preserving the legacy hydrocarbon-energy based technologies. In turn, there will never be what could be described as “brave business for the greater good”, unless governments invest into the “greater good”, in the form of incentives and tax breaks.

     Many of these challenges are the consequences of inherited policies (since about one century and a half); they could possibly be still tolerated for the short and mid-term economic targets. However, what is not helpful is the limited incentives allotted to RE technologies altogether, compared to the huge subsidies and tax breaks that went to oil companies. What will not be forgiving is the absence of plans to progressively quit burning fossil hydrocarbons and switching to RE technologies. Furthermore, the delays of the much hoped broader implementation of RE technologies are driven by a multitude of conflicting interests, which relentlessly impact both the policies and the investments. Moreover, they hinder funding the scientific and engineering research to improve RE technologies and to invent new ones, which will ultimately lead to breaking away from fossil hydrocarbons.

     Right energy policies are hoped, and new economics are the only ways to enable “Switching from burning hydrocarbons to RE technologies”. The intricacies of these complex issues are out of the scope of this paper, which highlights the extremely high value of hydrocarbons when utilized for other than energy production. Some of the physical and chemical properties are reviewed to illustrate the superior quality of hydrocarbons compared to other materials, how complex and “miraculous” they are for our modern technologies, and how difficult will be to reconstruct them if lost. How these hydrocarbons are useful for all industry sectors and countless new applications is hinted to; the reader is pointed to some additional readings.

     There is no question that hydrocarbons can be devoted to better use than burning them. They are described in this paper as the “Essential ingredients for modern manufacturing, farming, food industry and many more”. Thus we must refrain from burning them, as a facile way to produce energy, and we must switch to utilizing them as highly valuable materials. In doing so, CO2 emission will be cancelled, added-value industrial products will increase, hydrocarbon use will be extended tremendously through recycling, which could be multiple times, and the much desired sustainability will be reinforced.

(A 15 page paper will be published soon, stay tune).

[i] Consequences of Microbial Interactions with Hydrocarbons, Oils, and Lipids: Biodegradation and Bioremediation, Handbook of Hydrocarbon and Lipid Microbiology, Editors: Robert Steffan, Springer Nature Switzerland AG. (2020).

[ii]  Biogenesis of Fatty Acids, Lipids and Membranes Geiger, Otto (Ed.) Series: Handbook of Hydrocarbon and Lipid Microbiology, Springer Nature Switzerland AG., 2019. Ed.