Energy is necessary to accomplish many of the daily tasks, either as electricity, heat, or other forms of
energy. Moreover, energy demand is constantly increasing, and that trend will continue since the human
population grows each year. In the past decades, the energy demand was satisfied using petroleum derivatives,
but there is uncertainty about how long the petroleum production will be enough to be used as energy
source. According to the prediction of Hubbert (1969) [1], the peak on petroleum production has
been already reached. Other predictions mention that the peak will be reached by 2021 (Yang, 2015) [2].
Moreover, the use of petroleum-derived energetics has an important environmental impact, due to the
greenhouse gases released on their production and when used in furnaces, engines, and other devices (Environmental
Protection Agency, 2018) [3]. This opens a new research area and several innovation opportunities,
where the goal is to find alternative, renewable energy sources, which can help to reduce the dependence
on the petroleum economy, also reducing the environmental impact due to the production of energy.
Chemical Engineering has an important role on that search. The creation of new, clean alternatives
for the production of energy; the development of process for the production of clean fuels with low energy
requirements; or the determination of the best supply chain strategies for the production of renewable energy,
are only some of the areas where Chemical Engineering can contribute, looking ahead for a more
sustainable energy network. In this special issue, innovative research on the production of renewable energy
is presented, where Chemical Engineering plays an important role, in collaboration with other related
disciplines. The research presented here is just a sample of the many areas of development on which
chemical engineers are working for the development of bio-based economy. There are still many opportunities
in this area, thus the efforts must continue.
