feedstocks

Feedstock is a raw material supplied to a production process from which products are manufactured. In industry, feedstocks are consumed during processing and transformed into chemical, energetic, or material outputs. The term encompasses fossil-based materials such as crude oil, natural gas, and coal, as well as renewable resources including biomass, agricultural residues, waste streams, and recycled materials.

In the chemical and energy sectors, feedstocks are categorized by origin and by suitability for conversion. Fossil feedstocks include naphtha, gas oil, ethane, and methanol produced from natural gas. Bio-based feedstocks include sugars from sugarcane or corn, starch, cellulose, vegetable oils, and fats. Waste-based feedstocks include municipal solid waste, plastic waste suitable for recycling, and other residuals that can be processed by pyrolysis or gasification. Feedstocks are processed and converted through refining, fermentation, gasification, cracking, reforming, or hydroprocessing to yield fuels, monomers, polymers, or chemicals.

Selection affects process design, efficiency, and environmental impact. Availability, price, and policy drive feedstock choices. Sustainability considerations include land use, emissions, and competition with food production. In modern economies, many facilities operate as biorefineries or integrated petrochemical complexes, using multiple feedstocks to diversify risk and enable a circular economy. Effective procurement, pre-processing, and quality control are essential to ensure consistent throughput.