*
Daniel Knapping 10 White
* Green Chemistry is the design of chemical products
and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and
generation of hazardous substances. Often referred to
as a form of molecular- level pollution prevention,
Green Chemistry relies on a set of 12 principles that
can be used to design or re-design molecules,
materials and chemical transformations to be safer for
human health and the environment. The incorporation
of Green Chemistry principles into the curriculum has
fueled a fundamentally new approach to the teaching
of chemistry and the GEMs database has been
designed to be a rich and efficient resource for Green
Chemistry education materials.
*
1. Prevent Waste
2. Design safer chemicals
3. Find safer ways to make synthetic products
4. Maximise atom economy
5. Use safer products
6. Use renewable reactants
7. Maximise energy efficiency
8. Avoid chemical derivatives
9. Use catalysts whenever possible
10.Design biodegradable products
11.Use real-time analysis to prevent pollution
12.Minimise the potential for accidents
*
* Prevent Waste - It is better to prevent waste than to treat or clean up waste
after it has been created
* Design Safer Chemicals - Chemical products should be designed to effect
their desired function while minimizing their toxicity.
* Find safer ways to make synthetic products - Wherever practicable,
synthetic methods should be designed to use and generate substances that
possess little or no toxicity to human health and the environment.
* Maximise atom economy - Synthetic methods should be designed to
maximize the incorporation of all materials used in the process into the
final product.
* Use safer products - The use of auxiliary substances (e.g., solvents,
separation agents, etc.) should be made unnecessary wherever possible and
innocuous when used.
* Use renewable reactants - Energy requirements of chemical processes
should be recognized for their environmental and economic impacts and
should be minimized. If possible, synthetic methods should be conducted at
ambient temperature and pressure.
* Maximise energy efficiency - A raw material or feedstock should be
renewable rather than depleting whenever technically and economically
practicable.
* Avoid chemical derivatives - Unnecessary derivatization (use of blocking
groups, protection/ deprotection, temporary modification of
physical/chemical processes) should be minimized or avoided if possible,
because such steps require additional reagents and can generate waste.
* Maximise energy efficiency - Catalytic reagents (as selective as possible)
are superior to stoichiometric reagents.
* Design biodegradable products - Chemical products should be designed so
that at the end of their function they break down into innocuous
degradation products and do not persist in the environment.
* Use real-time analysis to prevent pollution - Analytical
methodologies need to be further developed to allow for real-time,
in process monitoring and control prior to the formation of hazardous
substances.
* Minimise the potential for accidents - Substances and the form of a
substance used in a chemical process should be chosen to minimize
the potential for chemical accidents, including releases, explosions,
and fires.
*
By Daniel Knapping, 10 White
*
*
The award that they received for this environmental breakthrough has
been presented on behalf of the White House by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency annually since 1996. It recognizes
breakthrough technologies that transfer sustainability principles from
the research lab into the real world to enable environmentally
responsible and economically viable routes to commercial chemical
manufacturing. It is the seventh Presidential Green Chemistry award
for Dow and the fourth for BASF.
The Dow-BASF innovation offers distinct economic and
environmental benefits when compared to conventional
PropyleneO(PO) process technologies. A joint study conducted by
the two companies in 2007 using BASF’s Eco-Efficiency Analysis
tool revealed the new HPPO process reduces waste water by 70
to 80 percent and energy use by approximately 35 percent,
compared with existing PO Technology. HPPO Technology is also
more environmentally friendly because no
by-products
are produced besides water. In addition, PO plants using the
HPPO Technology require up to 25 percent less capital to build
than conventional technologies, as they have reduced
infrastructure, a smaller physical footprint and simpler raw
materials integration. The two companies successfully started up
the first commercial-scale HPPO production plant in 2008 at
BASF’s Antwerp, Belgium, facility. SCG-Dow Group is building a
second plant based on this technology, which is scheduled to
begin production in Thailand, 2011.
Bibliography
http://www.dow.com/news/corporatxcv e/2010/20100622a.htm
http://www.basf.com/group/corporate/en/sustainability/ecoefficiency-analysis/projects/press-releases/050621
http://greenchem.uoregon.edu/Pages/WhatIsGreenChemistry.php
http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabe
l=PP_TRANSITIONMAIN&node_id=830&use_sec=false&sec_url_var=regio
n1&__uuid=732a2c26-7f7a-44ea-8c30-56f66ebcb03f
http://www.organic-chemistry.org/topics/green-chemistry.shtm
http://www.greenchemistrynetwork.org/
http://greenoz2011.org/
http://www.greenplastics.com/
http://www.dtsc.ca.gov/PollutionPrevention/GreenChemistryInitiative
/upload/FAQs_greenchem.pdf
http://www.chempower.org/inaction.html
Science Dimension 4 ( Text Book)