Industrial Uses of Green Chemistry

I was warned to be careful around cleaning supplies as a kid. My elementary school provided parents with information on how to contact poison control. I remember the infographic with skull and crossbones terrifying me. I feared that all chemicals were bad, dangerous, and would certainly kill me if I encountered them. However, what once scared me is now what I have dedicated myself to studying as a Chemical Engineer. Nowadays I am grateful for the many chemicals that hold me together and am wary of those that can do me harm. Certain chemicals are dangerous when not handled properly. That is why, as a Chemical Engineering student, I am grateful for the advent of Green Chemical practices. Green Chemistry has helped and is still helping Chemical Engineers design systems to minimize waste, environmental damage, and public health dangers.

At its core, Green Chemistry is practicing sustainability and safety. There are twelve core principles of Green Chemistry developed by Paul Anastas and John Warner in 1998.

1. Prevention: Preventing waste is a better option than having to treat, clean up, and dispose of it.

2. Atom Economy­: Design chemical reactions to create fewer byproducts.

3. Less Hazardous Chemical Syntheses: Design chemical reactions that do not contain toxic chemicals when possible.

4. Designing Safer Chemicals: Finding safe chemical substitutes to those that pose dangers to human health and environmental safety.

5. Safer Solvents and Auxiliaries: Limiting the use of unnecessary solvents (used to dissolve chemicals) that account for most of the waste material and energy consumption.

6. Design for Energy Efficiency: Limiting the use of unnecessary energy consumption (e.g., heating a solution to speed up a reaction that will occur at room temperature).

7. Use Renewable Feedstocks: Using chemical reactants that are renewable whenever feasibly and industrially possible.

8. Reduce Derivatives: Limiting the use of chemical reagents used to speed up/enhance a reaction that results in extra waste materials.

9. Catalysis: Use catalysis to speed up/enhance chemical reactions because they do not generate additional waste materials.

10. Design for Degradation: Designing chemical products, like house cleaning supplies, to naturally break down/decompose into environmentally neutral products.

11. Real-Time Analysis for Pollution Prevention: Creating analytical methods of detecting possible hazardous chemical reactions that may be taking place accidentally.

12. Inherently Safer Chemist for Accident Prevention: Choosing reactants that have the lowest potential for accidents (e.g., fires, explosion, acid burns, etc.).

(“12 Principles of Green Chemistry”, n.d.)

Chemical Engineers have taken on many of these principles and adapted them into a list specific to their field. This list can be seen at the following link:

https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/greenchemistry/principles/12-design-principles-of-green-engineering.html.

As a Chemical Engineering student, I am learning how to balance making a profit with being safe and environmentally conscious. This is a primary ethical issue that all Chemical Engineers must consider in research and development, plant design, and process improvement. That is why Green Chemistry is necessary for Chemical Engineers. It provides a mental framework for the engineer that prioritizes profit and sustainability. When the principles of Green Chemistry and Engineering are applied daily both company and consumers win.

Since the advent of the Green Chemistry principles in 1998, they have been applied industrially worldwide. For example, catalysis are used for drug development, metal extraction, and value-added product synthesis (marketable goods generated from waste). The textile, polymer, food, and beverage industries have also made Green Chemistry an integral part of their operations (“Green Chemistry Applications in Industries”, 2017). An article I recently read shows Green Chemical principles being applied today. The authors showed how Tartaric Acid, an organic and biodegradable acid, can be used in lieu of Hydrochloric Acid, a strong and harmful acid, to recycle batteries (He et. al., 2016). As an intern at Agropur, I saw Green Chemistry applied firsthand. The dairy industry has transformed whey, once considered a waste material of cheese, into a multibillion-dollar industry.

If you are curious about learning more about Green Chemistry, feel free to read my resources below or reach out to me with your questions. Also, feel free to comment your thoughts on this topic.

References

Allied Academies. (2017, July). Green Chemistry Applications in Industries. Green Chemistry and

Technology. Retrieved November 6, 2021, from https://greenchemistry.

alliedacademies.com/2017/events-list/green-chemistry-applications-in-industries.

American Chemical Society. (n.d.). 12 Principles of Green Chemistry. American Chemical

Society. Retrieved November 6, 2021, from https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/

greenchemistry/principles/12-principles-of-green-chemistry.html.

American Chemical Society. (n.d.). 12 Principles of Green Engineering. American Chemical Society.

Retrieved November 6, 2021, from https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/

greenchemistry/principles/12-design-principles-of-green-engineering.html.

He, L.-P., Sun, S.-Y., Mu, Y.-Y., Song, X.-F., & Yu, J.-G. (2016). Recovery of lithium, nickel, cobalt, and

manganese from spent lithium-ion batteries using L-tartaric acid as a leachant. ACS Sustainable

Chemistry & Engineering, 5(1), 714–721. https://doi.org/10.1021/

acssuschemeng.6b02056