抄録
Renewable resources are considered to be CO2-neutral, environmentally friendly and economic raw materials for the 21st century. But which renewable raw material is suited for a specific application? And, apart from the CO2-neutrality, are the materials made from renewables really more ecological than their synthetic competitors? In the following, criteria are discussed, that have proved to be relevant in recent and ongoing projects at IKP, University of Stuttgart. They represent a possible “check list” in a very early stage of a R&D-project, where a whole range of different raw materials and process routes is scanned. The conventional synthetic routes are hard competitors. Therefore the generalisation that production routes from renewable resources are per se environmentally friendly can of course not be upheld. The look on the whole life cycle of a product, for example with an LCE as an extension of ISO 14040ff., is the only way to find the best concepts for a new material or product.
