"Green chemistry, similar to sustainable chemistry or circular chemistry, is an area of chemistry and chemical engineering focused on the design of products and processes that minimize or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances."
An exploration of the application of principles of sustainability and efficiency to chemical processes and products. It covers the development of environmentally friendly industrial practices, including the use of renewable resources and the reduction of waste and pollution.
Principles of Green Chemistry: This topic covers the 12 principles of Green Chemistry such as prevention, atom economy, safer solvents, renewable feedstocks and green catalysis.
Environmental Regulations and Legislation: This covers policies, laws, and regulations relating to the environment such as the Toxic Substances Control Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, and the Clean Air and Water Acts.
Sustainable synthesis: This covers the principles used for designing greener, sustainable, and safer chemical synthesis methods; it includes: energy efficient strategies, ultra-sonic reactors, and green chemistry for organic synthesis.
Life Cycle Assessment: This involves evaluating the environmental impact of a product throughout its entire life cycle, using tools like Green star certification, carbon footprint and eco labelling.
Green analytical chemistry: This includes environmentally-friendly methods of analysis, such as spectroscopy and mass spectrometry and newer technologies like micro-fluidics, bioanalytical sensors, and droplet-based microfluidics.
Green catalysts and technologies: This involves the application of catalysts in synthesis, which lead to less wasteful, efficient, and environmentally-friendly reactions. It includes heterogeneous, homogeneous, and bio-catalysis.
Green conversion and processing: This covers the development of chemical processes and engineering technologies that minimize waste production, maximise product yields, energy efficiency, and clean technologies.
Green materials and nanotechnology: This involves the development of “green” materials like bio-based polymers, nanomaterials, and solid-state materials used in sustainable applications to promote environmentally friendly outcomes.
Green engineering and reactor design: This involves designing energy-efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally sound reactor systems for different applications in the chemical industry.
Green Industrial Processes: This topic covers the modification of manufacturing processes to create a safer working environment while minimizing negative environmental impacts.
Green Energy and Renewables: This includes research and development of sustainable and clean energy sources like solar, geothermal and hydropower to achieve a low-carbon emission society.
Risk Analysis and Management: This involves identifying and evaluating environmental risks, developing strategies to mitigate potential hazards and maintaining a safe work and living space.
Green Transport and Logistics: This covers how waste should be managed, how goods can be transported using efficient and sustainable modes of transport and how companies can get closer to a zero-emission future.
Sustainable Design and Planning: This involves designing and building structures based on environmental sustainability, promoting environmentally-friendly design practices, renewable energy, and reducing waste and emissions.
Pollution Prevention Technologies: This topic covers pollution prevention strategies such as air and water pollutants’ management, contamination prevention, control and cleanup processes.
Green Supply Chain Management: This covers the supply chain processes from sourcing to disposal using strategies to reduce carbon emissions, managing and auditing suppliers to ultimately achieve a sustainable supply chain.
Sustainability metrics: This involves setting metrics and goals to measure the effectiveness of green innovations, reporting and process improvement.
Green Consumerism and Ethical Consumption: This includes focused consumer behaviour, responsible supply chain management, eco-friendly packaging, labeling, and marketing.
Waste Management and Recycling: This covers techniques to reduce and manage waste, including recycling and composting, treatment and disposal methods, and sustainable practices.
Green Business models and entrepreneurship: This covers topics such as how to create sustainability models for businesses balanced with each company’s economic and social concerns. It includes entrepreneurship, start-up accelerators, innovation and business models for sustainability.
Prevention: It is better to prevent waste than to clean it up after it has been created.
Atom Economy: Synthetic methods should be designed to maximize the incorporation of all materials used in the process into the final product.
Less Hazardous Chemical Syntheses: Wherever possible, synthetic methodologies should be designed to use and generate substances that possess little or no toxicity to human health and the environment.
Designing Safer Chemicals: Chemical products must be designed to affect their desired function while minimizing their toxicity.
Safer Solvents and Auxiliaries: The use of auxiliary substances (e.g., solvents, separation agents, etc.) should be made unnecessary wherever possible and innocuous when used.
Design for Energy Efficiency: Energy requirements of chemical processes should be recognized for their environmental and economic impacts and minimized.
Use of Renewable Feedstocks: A raw material or feedstock should be renewable rather than depleting where technically and economically practicable.
Reduce Derivatives: Unnecessary derivatization (protecting group chemistry) should be minimized or avoided if possible because such steps require additional reagents and can generate waste.
Catalysis: Catalytic reagents (as selective as possible) are superior to stoichiometric reagents.
Design for Degradation: 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.
Real-time analysis for Pollution Prevention: Analytical methodologies need to be further developed to allow for real-time, in-process monitoring and control prior to the formation of hazardous substances.
Inherently Safer Chemistry for Accident Prevention: Substances and their form should be chosen to minimize the potential for chemical accidents, including releases, explosions, and fires.
"Green chemistry, similar to sustainable chemistry or circular chemistry..."
"While environmental chemistry focuses on the effects of polluting chemicals on nature, green chemistry focuses on the environmental impact of chemistry..."
"The overarching goals of green chemistry—namely, more resource-efficient and inherently safer design of molecules, materials, products, and processes..."
"...that minimize or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances."
"...including lowering consumption of nonrenewable resources..."
"...technological approaches for preventing pollution."
"The overarching goals of green chemistry... can be pursued in a wide range of contexts."
"...is an area of chemistry and chemical engineering..."
"Green chemistry, similar to sustainable chemistry or circular chemistry..."
"...focused on the design of products and processes..."
"...that minimize or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances."
"...focused on the design of products and processes..."
"...technological approaches for preventing pollution."
"...green chemistry focuses on the environmental impact of chemistry..."
"...design of molecules, materials, products, and processes..."
"More resource-efficient and inherently safer design of molecules, materials, products, and processes."
"...an area of chemistry and chemical engineering..."
"...minimize or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances."
"Green chemistry, similar to sustainable chemistry or circular chemistry..."