Not too long ago, the world economy was mainly based on agricultural products and its trades and barters between various communities and countries. With the discovery of crude oil, petroleum based fuels, chemicals, polymers and all of their downstream products took a foothold and the world economy was changed forever. Although it is still a very important part of the world economy, agriculture has been second tier to the oil economy for over a hundred years now.
However, the sands of time are shifting once again. With peak oil behind us, rising prices of petroleum-based chemicals and plastics, and more importantly the rude awakening and realization that the rising consumption of crude oil is putting the entire Earth's ecosystem and its living beings at grave risk of total annihilation via a man-made global warming phenomenon, the world is once again turning its attention to renewable and closed-loop bio-based (i.e. agriculture based) products to fulfill its non-food related needs including transportation fuels and the manufacture of chemicals and plastics.
In this revised edition book, renowned experts from the field of bio-based chemicals, plastics and materials present the most compelling case and a comprehensive overview of the paradigm shift that is taking place in the present day movement to replace crude oil with bio-based raw materials. There are several new chapters in this edition that address new topics of: Biodegradation Testing Protocols, Life Cycle Assessment, Starch and other Natural Polymers, Bioplastics from Waste Materials, and Biodegradable Agricultural Mulches derived from Biopolymers. In addition, all of the original chapters from the first edition that have been retained in this second edition have been revised and updated with current references and published literature.
