How Chemicals Affect the
Environment
Molecular Compounds: Choosing the
Right Materials and End-Life

Molecular Compounds
• Most Canadians use and consume a large number of
products
• We are now taking steps to live in a more sustainable way
• Ex: reusable containers and not plastic water bottles
(recycling)
• We must always think about the risks associated with the
production of materials (risk-benefit analysis) which
includes the raw materials and chemicals used in
production, disposal, and effect on society and the
environment

• Source of Molecular Compounds
• Many molecular compounds originate from living
things (wood, crude oil, medicines from fungi and
bacteria, foods for biofuels…etc)
• These natural resources can be renewable or non-
renewable depending on whether they can be
regenerated in our lifetime (fungi=yes, crude oil=no)
• A petrochemical is a compound that is synthesized by
chemically changing certain components of fossil fuels
to create other substances (plastics, gasoline, paints,
detergents, pesticides/herbicides, rubber…)
• To process petrochemicals takes a huge amount of
energy and uses vast amounts of fossil fuels

Choosing the Right Material for a Product
• Consideration must be taken into account with the chemicals used
when making new products as well as long term
health/environmental effects and disposal
Plastic used for a pencil case can be either made from:
a) non-recyclable plastics (ending up lasting 1000’s of years in a landfill
site and possibly polluting the water system)
b) a biodegradable plastic, polylactide (PLA) that can be broken down
by micro-organisms, oxygen and water and produced using corn
and other starch rich foods. These types of products are not
recyclable but are biodegradable. There are many products in the
pharmaceutical, industrial and biomedical industries that use PLA
c) an organically grown cotton which is a natural fibre produced by
plants raised without pesticides or fertilizers. This cotton is a
renewable resource. The pencil case will not be waterproof and
may not be as durable as plastic
Which would you choose as a consumer? Be sure to educate yourself

Reducing, Reusing and Recycling
• Disposal or “end-of-life” of materials in a product must be considered
• The chemical bonds that make plastic so durable also make most plastics resistant
to any natural decomposition for years
• compostable means that the substance will decompose in a composting site within
a set time frame
• plastic waste and its environmental effect is a serious concern
• plastic garbage is also accumulating at an alarming rate in our waterways (think
the Great Pacific Garbage Patch…Google it, it’s gross)
• reusable products are the most friendly to our environment
• recyclable means it can be converted back into material that can be used in
manufacturing new goods
• sadly, a lot of plastic cannot be recycled dues to additives such as dyes, softeners
and ultraviolet inhibitors that make them unsuitable for recycling
• “upcycling” involves converting wastes into new products (sewing juice pouches to
make a reusable bag)

Minimizing the Impact of Chemical
Processes on the Environment

A. Combustion of Hydrocarbons
• Combustion is a chemical reaction that results when a
hydrocarbon (a fuel) is burned in oxygen gas and produces
carbon dioxide and water and of course, energy
Ex: CH4 + 2O2  CO2 + 2H2O (+ energy)
• Complete combustion occurs when the oxygen supply is
plentiful
• Complete combustion produces the cleanest (less sooty) and
hottest flame
• Coal, propane and gasoline as common fuels
• Incomplete combustion also produces carbon monoxide
which is a deadly gas

• Incomplete combustion occurs when oxygen supply
is limited (operating a car), these flames are sooty,
yellow and produce less heat
• Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that contributes
to global warming
• Most fuels are composed of organic compounds
(containing carbon)
• Many fuels also contain impurities like sulfur and
heavy metals which if released into the atmosphere
are also serious pollutants

Concerns with Incomplete Combustion
• Releases only a portion of the energy available in the fuel and
releases the most carbon monoxide and other gases (the
most incomplete combustion occurs when car are idling cars,
highway travelling cars burn fuel more efficiently)
• Soot particles from incomplete combustion are in inhalation
hazard (many are toxic and penetrate deep into the lung
tissue)
• Carbon monoxide during incomplete combustion is also a
hazard. Carbon monoxide bonds to the red blood cell faster
than oxygen and this is what causes suffocation and death
• Firefighters are dealing with hotter and more toxic domestic
fires dues to the increased use of synthetic substances in the
home (synthetic fibres, plastic). This is increasing the risk of
certain types of cancers among these people
• Recent studies with forest fires are showing certain toxins
(alkaloids) being released from the wood

B. Mining Metallurgy and The
Environment
• Most metals are not found pure in nature but rather as
minerals
• A mineral is a solid substance found in Earth, usually a
crystalline ionic compound or a mixture of compounds.
• Sometimes a mineral is made up of a single element (gold,
silver)
• Rock that contains enough of a valued resource that it can be
mined for profit is called an ore
• Precious metals are highly desired metals like gold and silver
• Less valuable metals are called base metals (copper, zinc,
nickel)
Ore:

Two Types of Mining
– Surface mining: when closer to the surface the ore
is mined using a large open pit, large quantities of
material are removed, returning the surface mine
to its natural state after the mine closes is a huge
environmental task
– Underground mines: miners drill shafts deep into
the Earth to reach the ore

Metallurgy: extracting metals from ore and
processing into useful form
• Involves chemical and physical reactions
• A huge quantity of ore must be processed to
retrieve even a little metal (ex: copper ore can
contain as little as 0.5% copper by mass)
• A metallurgist engineer must design a
profitable process to separate and purify the
metal from the ore

Impact of Mining on the Environment
• Huge source of income for Canada
• History of environmental concerns (pollution,
environmental damage, toxic emissions, huge risk
of water and land contamination) and human
tragedy
• Today mining companies in Canada must fund
detailed environmental assessment and strict
plans for rehabilitating the land after the mine
closes to the government before mining can
begin, not all countries are as strict as Canada

C. Detox for Contaminated Land
• Chemical waste dumps, tailing ponds, slag heaps are all
places where water was deposited with no concern for
human health or environmental safety
• Old abandoned factories, businesses, landfills, warehouses
and military bases are also concerns for old chemical
deposits
• Environment Canada reports there are tens of thousands of
these sites in Canada
• Contaminated land contains hazardous substances in high
enough levels to pose a threat to human or environment
health
• These hazardous chemicals can interact with groundwater
and soil
Tailing pond

Remediation
Remediation: is the process of decontaminating land or water
to be safely used again
• Not necessarily the same as total cleanup, depends on
what the site is going to be used for (ex: playground vrs
parking lot)
4 main remediation strategies
1. Do nothing and restrict land use in the area
2. Cover or encase the contaminated soil (ex: cap with
concrete)
3. Excavate the entire site and replace the contaminated soil
with clean soil, contaminated soil is dumped elsewhere in
licensed land purchased for that purpose)
4. Treat and clean the soil and return the cleaned soil

Treating Contaminated Soil
Physical Treatment
• Flushing the soil with large volumes of fluid to
flush out and collect the contaminants (using
water, acids, bases, solvents or detergents)
depends on the chemicals contaminating the
soil
• Care must be taken that none of the flushing
fluid escapes into the environment
Soil Washing Soil Treatment Plant with Flotation Cells

Chemical Remediation
Stabilization and Solidification:
• Uses chemical reactions to convert the
contaminant into a safe form (ex: form a
precipitate)
• Precipitate can be collected, mixed with a
binding agent (like concrete) and buried in the
ground
• Prevents dangerous chemicals from moving
into the groundwater

Electrolysis
• Involves inserting electrodes (electrical
conductors) into the ground and applying a
voltage to remove toxic metal ions that are
dissolved in groundwater
• Ground must be moist
• Positive metal ions attach to the negative
electrode, metal build up and can be safely
removed and even recycled

Chemical Oxidation
• Uses chemical reactions to convert the contaminant into a
less hazardous substance
Bioremediation:
• Using living things to remove pollutants
• Certain plants and micro-organisms can consume or absorb
toxins from the environment
• Most cost effective and less disruptive than chemical or
physical methods, but may take longer
• The organism used depends on the site and the
contaminant
• Some exist naturally in the ground, others are added to the
site while others also need help getting started from us

Phytoremediation:
Using plants to remediate soil or water
• Plants are surprisingly effective at cleaning up a broad range of pollutants
• Plants use their root systems to draw up water and contaminants
• Some contaminants are decomposed with the plant, others have
microorganism in the roots
• Some substances (like metals) cannot be degraded by the plant and
accumulate in them
• Some plants have an unusually high ability to take in a trap metals
(sunflowers, geraniums)
• These plants can be harvested and the metals “mined” by burning and
plant and getting the metal from the ashes
Marigold
Sunflowers for phytoremediation

Green Chemistry in Industry

Green Chemistry in Industry
• Today going “green” is good for industry
• Often involves changing a manufacturing process so it
is less harmful to the environment, using less toxic
materials, upgrading equipment, more efficient process
(less waste), using less energy
• Sometimes these changes are very expensive
• In the end however, the company makes more profit
due to less waste, protects the environment, and
becomes more competitive
• However it is consumers that must make the big
changes: we must develop a less wasteful more
sustainable approach to consumer product
Green chemistry Logos

• Why generate pollution if there is a greener
(less polluting) alternative?
• Environmental impact is minimal
• “benign by design”
STEP 1:
Use renewable resources as starting materials
• Ex: glucose can be used instead of benzene (a
known carcinogen) in the production of
certain plastics, however, using a food crop
(corn) to make glucose to make plastic takes
this land and food away from people/livestock

STEP 2:
Use chemicals that have less environmental impact
• Ex: CFC’s used to be used to create and mold
polystyrene (foam containers for fast food) but
this gas eats away at ozone cause serious thinning
of the ozone layer letting UV radiation get
through. Now carbon dioxide is used which is
safer, not flammable but does still contribute to
greenhouse gases 12 Principles of Green Chemistry

STEP 3:
Use catalysts to increase reaction efficiency
• Catalysts make a chemical reaction occur
faster without being consumed in the reaction
• Can be reused in the manufacturing process
• Can eliminate steps in the manufacturing
process

STEP 4:
Use less energy
• Updating aging equipment
• Switching to more efficient furnaces that create more
energy using less fuel
• Can change the process of manufacturing so less energy is
used
STEP 5:
Waste not
• Recycle the material in industry that can be used again
(batteries)
• Avoid losing energy through heat loss, try to trap the heat
in a “closed loop” system to use it again
• Closed loop systems can also gather hazardous substances
to prevent them from being released into the environment