Several hundred chemical constituents have been identified to date, and increasing attention is being paid to recovery of individual compounds or families of chemicals. The potentially much higher value of speciality chemicals compared to fuels could make recovery of even small concentrations viable. The opportunities are described in Chapter 5

An integrated approach to chemicals and fuels production offers interesting possibilities for shorter term economic implementation. Chemicals that have been reported as recovered include polyphenols for resins with formaldehyde, calcium and/or magnesium acetate for biodegradable de-icers, levoglucosan, hydroxyacetaldehyde, and a range of flavourings and essences for the food industry. There are substantial problems to be overcome is establishing markets for the less common chemicals and devising low cost and efficient separation and refining techniques. The onfy currently viable market opportunity is for speciality food flavourings with a current market size of around US$ 10 million in North America and which could expand to US $ 40 million in 10 years. A similar market opportunity is believed for Europe (45).