For the past 80-90 years petroleum and natural gas have served as raw materials for the majority of the finished products of our daily lives. After World War II these raw materials decisively substituted coal, and they have been the foundation of an enormous increase in material wealth and welfare throughout the World.A few basic raw materials, petroleum, natural gas, þS from oil or natural gas, and O 2 þ N 2 from air, generate first primary (or platform) chemicals, next secondary (commodity) chemicals, then intermediates, and finally the finished products of virtually all industries that provide consumer goods.The aromatic fraction of petroleum delivers platform chemicals, such as propylene, ethyl benzene, cyclohexane, and cumene. These are used to synthesize secondary chemicals such as styrene, adipic acid, caprolactam, acetone, and terephthalic acid; and these in turn are raw materials for the polymer industry that produces textiles, packaging for food products, appliances, and communication equipment (pencils, inks, computer casings, optical fiber). The aliphatic fraction of petroleum contains other platform chemicals (iso-butylene, butadiene, etc.) that supplement the aromatic fraction to produce intermediates for the abovementioned industries. The transportation sector directly receives consumer goods from C 5 to C 14 aliphatic compounds, while products such as antifreeze and gasoline additives are derived by chemical processing of petroleum platform chemicals.Natural gas and cracked naphtha deliver other platform chemicals (ethylene, propylene, CO/H 2 , NH 3 ) for the solvent industry (methanol, ethanol, ethylene glycol, etc.), for the polymer industry (formaldehyde, polyethylene, polypropylene, PVC), and for fertilizers.Together the platform chemicals from petroleum and natural gas are combined to give most of the products of the health and hygiene industry, the housing industry, and the exploding recreation industry. Except for the input from the mining and the forest industry, and the inorganic platform chemicals (such as cement and phosphates) it is, indeed, hard to imagine the modern world without the crucial input from oil and gas.J. Villadsen et al., Bioreaction Engineering Principles,