About 80% of the chemical products are still based on crude oil. Bio-based materials will increasingly gain importance. As the fraction of oxygen is normally higher in biomass than in crude oil as well as in the derived conventional products, this implies a need to develop new synthesis pathways. Depending on the types of new synthesis pathways, the effects of a complete raw-material change on land and exergy use differ. Here, different synthesis pathways starting from glucose and plant oil to different kinds of end products are evaluated utilizing material and exergy balances. These evaluations are carried out under today's and future conditions and constraints, like yield, demand of organic chemicals and world population. The analysis in this paper shows that the land and energy use can be significantly reduced, if the products are adapted to the chemical structure of their bio-based feedstock. (c) 2014 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.