The Importance of Chemical Research to the U.S. Economy (2022) / Chapter Skim
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1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 13-28
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From page 13... ...
Synthetic polymers have revolutionized consumer products and packaging, including the packaging of food, thus reducing spoilage, but the proliferation of plastics is now a major environmental threat. Numerous synthetic chemicals are used in practical applications and are important contributors to the chemical economy.
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Success will also require a willingness to increase investment in basic and applied chemical research. The outcomes of the chemical economy depend on the critical and intertwined roles played by funding of chemical research and development (R&D)
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competitiveness and collaboration in the global chemical economy -- Chemistry is a global enterprise and the United States is a key player. To better understand this situation, the committee determined that it was necessary to understand the historical and current positions of the United States in the global chemical economy and to under stand how innovative discoveries in fundamental chemical research are key to sustaining and improving U.S.
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1.2.1 Chemical Economy For this report, the committee chose to take a broad definition of the chemical economy. To help capture the wide breadth and importance of this topic, the committee chose the following definition: The chemical economy includes all parts of any value chain that rely on chemical knowledge and transformation processes for advancement and growth.
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1.3 IMAGINING THE FUTURE OF THE CHEMICAL ECONOMY Many people view chemistry as a mature science; therefore, it is often overlooked when considering fields that are using and producing rapidly developing technologies. As the committee members continued to form their thoughts on the future of chemistry and the chemical economy, they were driven by input from experts and their own understanding of what new chemistries might be needed in different areas of research and industry.
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; therefore, it has been the focus of numerous fundamental probes to better understand nitrogen activation and fixation. Although the Haber-Bosch process resulted in a substantial improvement in energy efficiency over previous attempts to artificially fix nitrogen, scientific advances in combination with engineering improvements have further reduced its energy requirements by nearly 74% over the initial Haber-Bosch synthesis energetics (Figure 1-3)
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, full development of the envisioned ammonia-based economy will only be realized when there is a strong foundation of chemical knowledge arising from significant investment in fundamental chemical research. 1.3.2 Case 2: Needs for the Future Energy Landscape Inorganic materials and elemental discoveries were prime chemistry research areas in the 1700s and early 1800s.
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For example, an electric vehicle will require about six times the mineral inputs compared to a current internal combustion engine vehicle, and an onshore wind power plant will require nine times the minerals as a similar-size gas-fired power plant (IEA, 2021b)
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. A future chemical economy where environmental considerations are at the forefront cannot sacrifice human justice to accomplish other goals.
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Larger-scale production is advantaged over smaller-scale operations in most situations owing to economies of scale. However, potential future feedstocks such as biomass, plastics, and municipal solid waste are bulky with low energy density, features that will make long-range transport uneconomical, challenging the centralized manufacturing model.
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. While chemical processes are moving toward smaller distributed facilities, manufacturing techniques are also changing for other areas within the chemical economy where some of these same fundamental explorations will also be useful.
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Additive manufacturing may also help enable distributed manufacturing overall as the technique could be utilized to produce needed maintenance parts and minimize downtime of production facilities located in more remote locations (Westerweel et al., 2021)
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to hire an independent contractor to perform an economic analysis of the impact of the chemical economy on the U.S. economy and to analyze the impact that fundamental chemical research has had on the chemical economy.
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1.5 PREVIOUS CONSENSUS STUDIES RELATED TO THE CHEMICAL ECONOMY During the information-gathering process, the committee also looked to previously published reports and literature on chemical research and the chemical economy. While few published reports attempt to draw a direct connection between fundamental chemical research and the chemical economy, the National Academies have published several reports that are relevant to the committee's research.
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Chapters 2 through 6 build the case for why it is essential for the United States to make public and private investments in fundamental research in the chemical sciences. Starting with Chapter 2, the report lays out the data for the importance of chemical research and the chemical economy while also helping to identify different metrics for U.S.
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chemical economy and thus the U.S. economy overall.
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