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Energy has been the basis of economic prosperity of developing and industrialized nations in the last decades. The energy demand continues to grow steadily and replacement of fossil fuels by renewable sources is an issue for both, policy makers and the public. This transition will involve massive investments in research, technological development, and new processes. An overview of these factors is given in this study. Among scientific and engineering areas, Chemical Engineering will play a key role to obtain alternative liquid fuels with low CO2 emissions, in a competitive economic environment.
Introduction
Richard E. Smalley (1943-2005), professor in Chemistry (Rice University, Houston, TX) and Nobel Prize Chemistry winner in 1996 for his discovery of fullerenes, in one of his last presentations listed the “Top ten problems for next 50 years”, which in order of importance were: energy, water, food, environment, poverty, terrorism and war, disease, education, democracy and population. Energy, according to Prof. Smalley, is the key factor that might contribute to solve many of the other problems. In 2004, 220 million barrels of oil equivalent/day were used by the world, both as fuel and to generate electricity. According to Smalley’s forecasts, by 2050, 400-500 million barrels of oil equivalent/day, some 40-50 000 TWh of primary energy will be needed [1]. Prof. Smalley’s predictions, made in 2004, may have large deviations, since in 2020 already 26 800 TWh were consumed in electricity alone.
