Crude Tall Oil- Too Valuable to Burn

Pine Chemicals Association –2010 International Conference
September 20th, 2010

By:  Ir. K. Defever, Arthur D. Little  and Dr. E. Polastro, Arthur D. Little
With the courtesy of Arizona Chemical

Sustainability is amongst the critical mega-trends expected to increasingly shape the world over the coming years.

• Sustainability is hot, be it in politics, business, administration or education, sustainability is one of the most important and fundamental megatrends expected to increasingly shape the world in the coming years
• The increased attention paid to sustainability, making it a true megatrend is driven by fundamental developments including:
  – Dwindling traditional feedstock reserves threatening the current world as we know it –the question being when rather than if fossil derived feedstocks reserves will eventually be exhausted
  – A continuing population growth further increasing pressure on feedstock reserves
  – The threat of possible natural disasters as a consequence of global warning, which is increasing public concerns on environmental related issues
  – The election of younger political leaders reflecting the ambitions and aspirations of “Generation Y”, whose values include:
  – Global thinking
  – Willingness to adopt new technologies
  – Passion for ethics and sustainability

Sustainability implies for the pine chemical industry both a threat and an opportunity

• For CTO fractionators, sustainability can be both a threat as well as an opportunity:
  – Opportunities:
  – To outpace competition:
  – Promotion of the lower environmental footprint of CTO derivatives compared to their less environmentally benign substitutes
  – Cutting of energy consumption and hence costs
  – To increase sales, given an increasing consumer pull for green products
  – Threats of the recognition of CTO as a biofuel:
  – Several countries however are trying to increase the share of biofuels in their total energy consumption bill –in an attempt to reduce dependency on fossil fuels. Hence they are defining a list of products to be acknowledged as a biofuel, among which possibly CTO...

Read Full Report