Biobased economy

We currently get most of our industrial chemicals from the petrochemical industry, which is worth hundreds of billions of pounds. Fossil fuels are the feedstock for a plethora of household products, but are finite and polluting. Products include medicines, furniture, packaging, car parts, shampoos and many more. The biobased economy involved generating products and energy from renewable biobased materials like biomass instead of fossil fuels.

Resources

The lesson plans below contain activities and fact sheets to guide learning

Lesson plan 1:

compares the petrochemical industry and biobased economy

age

13-16

Lesson plan 2:

outlines challenges associated with the biobased economy

age

13-16

Link to CURRICULUM

Did you know?

Known oil reserves are set to run out in the next

50 years

6 mill.

people are employed worldwide in the oil and gas industry

330 million tonnes of chemical and polymer products are made from petrochemicals each year, versus 90 million tonnes from biobased sources