Plant raw materials are used to produce medicines, textiles, paper, and biofuels. Ongoing research focuses on developing new uses for plants and identifying new commercially valuable species. The goal is to create more environmentally friendly processes and increase efficiency in fuel production.
Plant raw materials are commercially useful plants that can be used to produce a variety of products, from medicines to fuels. They can be grown on farms and greenhouses to meet demand and can also be harvested from the wild if they are not well suited to cultivation. Research and development with vegetable raw materials is an ongoing process in laboratories in many regions of the world. It includes developing new uses for plants already known to have commercial value and exploring new plants with potential applications. Specialists in this field study topics such as biology, botany and chemistry.
The use of vegetable raw materials is ancient in many human cultures, where plants have been used to produce medicines, dyes and fibers for thousands of years. Medicine continues to be a common application. Plants can be transformed to produce traditional herbal medicines or more complex pharmaceuticals if they produce compounds that cannot be successfully synthesized. This requires careful controls to keep products of a pure and consistent nature and testing them to determine what they do and how they should be delivered.
Plant raw materials are also used to make fibers and related products, including textiles and paper. Plants can be durable and hardy in a variety of environments, depending on how they are processed. Cotton, linen and bamboo are commonly used in these applications. As raw materials for manufacturing, they can be grown on a large scale to make them more affordable.
Some fuels can be made from plant-based raw materials, which can also be processed to produce other valuable chemicals. Biofuels, as they are known, rely on renewable resources to generate energy, rather than petroleum products. A variety of crops produce oils suitable for processing into fuel. Researchers working with plant-based raw materials can focus on increasing efficiency to make fuel production with plants more practical and appropriate than the continued use of fossil fuels.
Ongoing research into new applications for plants may include chemical studies to learn more about the properties of plants, as well as trials producing various types of products with plants. Technicians in this field can work with an assortment of plants to identify new commercially valuable species. Many facilities have a specific interest in developing more environmentally friendly processes and can turn to plants to achieve this goal. Their work can culminate in patents if inventors can develop a proprietary process for a non-obvious use of a plant.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
