Fuels and Energy for the Future: The Role of Catalysis

There are many reasons to decrease the dependency on oil and to increase the use of other energy sources than fossil fuels. The wish for energy security is balanced by a wish for sustainable growth. Catalysis plays an important role in creating new routes and flexibility in the network of energy sources, energy carriers, and energy conversion. The process technologies resemble those applied in the large scale manufacture of commodities. This is illustrated by examples from refinery fuels, synfuels, and hydrogen and the future role of fossil fuels is discussed.