Renewable raw materials: chance and challenge for computer-aided process engineering

In the context of the climate change and with the perspective of rapid exhaustion of fossil hydrocarbon resources, the use of renewable raw materials becomes vital for the future of Chemical Process Industries. The first oil crisis from 1974 kicked-off the advent of process simulation. Today the emergence of bio-fuels, boosted by a serious petroleum and environmental crisis, is an exiting challenge for developing new design methods and simulation tools, as well as a chance for CAPE rejuvenation.