This doctoral thesis, organized in three self-contained chapters, provides an analysis of the economic effects associated with the extraction of natural resources and the transition from an economy based on fossil fuel use to an economy relying primarily on renewable energy sources. Chapter 1...

The extraction of essential oils of , and has been studied using supercritical carbon dioxide as solvent. The raw materials were dried at room temperature (30 ± 2C) for 5 days. The dried leaves were cut in pieces of 1cm () or 3cm of length ( and ). The fixed bed was packed with 87 ± 1g, 68 ±...

The extraction and processing of unconventional oil is more energy intensive and has larger negative environmental impacts than the extraction of conventional oil. The European Union (EU) estimates that oil sands lead to 22% more emissions than conventional oil. The EU is very concerned by the...