intro aboutgren chemistry

1. SOME WELL-PUBLICIZED
INCIDENTS FROM THE PAST
FEW DECADES…
• The Cuyahoga River in Ohio became so
polluted with chemicals it caught fire.
• A plant accident in Bhopal, India,
released methyl isocyanate. Nearly 4000
people died.

2. SOME WELL-PUBLICIZED
INCIDENTS FROM THE PAST
FEW DECADES…
• An accidental release
of chemicals, including
dioxin, in Seveso, Italy,
in 1976 resulted in
death of farm animals
and long-term health
problems for many
local residents.

3. ENVIRONMENTAL
DISASTERS
 DDT
 CFCs
 Love Canal

4. ENVIRONMENTAL
DISASTERS
 Became rallying points for
environmental laws
 Cuyahoga River- 1972 Clean Water
Act
 Love Canal- 1980 Comprehensive
Environmental Response,
Compensation & Liability Act,
better known as Superfund.
Emergency Planning & Community
Right-to-Know Act, requires that
industries
report toxic releases.

5. MANY COUNTRIES HAVE
ALREADY ENACTED LAWS AND
SIGNED INTERNATIONAL
TREATIES TO REDUCE POLLUTION
LEVELS, INCLUDING:
• Montreal Protocol to Protect the
Ozone Layer
• Global Treaty on Persistent
Organic Pollutants
• Rio Declaration on Environment
and Development

6. Growth in Environmental Regulation
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7. Risk=f(Hazard, Exposure)
environmental laws attempt to control exposure
Controlling Exposure =
“end of the pipe solution”
Risk Due to a Hazardous Substance

8. Cost to Industry
 Industries in the US spend over
$100 billion/year on waste
treatment, control, and
disposal.
 1996 Dupont spent $ 1 billion
for environmental compliance
(research budget $ 1 billion;
chemical sales of $18 billion)

9. THE POLLUTION
PREVENTION ACT OF 1990
Risk=f(HAZARD, Exposure)
Eliminate the hazard, no
need to worry about the
exposure!

10. Chemists Must Place a Major Focus on
the Environmental Consequences of
Chemical Products and the Processes
by which these Products are Made.
We must consider our
chemical
ecological footprint.

11. GREEN CHEMISTRYGREEN CHEMISTRY
PREVENTING POLLUTION
SUSTAINING THE EARTH

13. “ Chemistry has an important role to
play in achieving a sustainable
civilization on earth.”
— Dr. Terry Collins, Professor of Chemistry
Carnegie Mellon University

14. WHAT IS A
SUSTAINABLE
CIVILIZATION?

15. WE SHOULD CONSIDER
THIS QUESTION FROM
SEVERAL VIEWPOINTS:
• The environment and human health.
• A stable economy that uses energy
and resources efficiently.
• Social and political systems
that lead to a just society.

16. TO UNDERSTAND THE ROLE
OF CHEMISTRY IN
SUSTAINABILITY,
WE WILL LOOK AT THE
FIRST TWO POINTS…
• The environment and
human health.
• A stable economy that
uses energy and
resources efficiently.

17. IN A SUSTAINABLE
CIVILIZATION…
• Technologies used for
production of needed goods
are not harmful to the
environment or to human
health.
• Renewable resources (such
as plant-based substances
or solar energy) are used
rather than those, like
fossil fuels, that will
eventually run out.

18. IN A SUSTAINABLE
CIVILIZATION…
• At the end of their use, materials
are recycled if they are not
biodegradable (easily broken
down into harmless substances
in the environment).

19. IN A SUSTAINABLE
CIVILIZATION…
• Manufacturing processes are either
designed so as not to produce
waste products,
– OR –
• Waste products are recycled or
biodegradable.

20. WHILE WE HAVE MADE SOME
PROGRESS IN ACHIEVING
THESE GOALS, WE STILL
HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO…
• Mountains of solid waste are piling
up—particularly in industrialized
nations.
• Air and water pollution continue to
be problems in many places.

21. BUT HOW CAN
CHEMISTRY HELP US
TO ACHIEVE
A SUSTAINABLE
CIVILIZATION?

22. First, let’s consider chemistry’s benefits…
The chemical industry produces many
products that improve our lives
and upon which we depend.

23. BENEFITS OF
CHEMICAL INDUSTRY:
• Antibiotics and other medicines
• Fertilizers, pesticides
• Plastics
• Nylon, rayon, polyester, and
other synthetic materials
• Gasoline and other fuels
• Water purification

24. “Better Things for Better
Living Through Chemistry”
DuPont
 Ibuprophen
 Lipitor
 Celebrex
 Vioxx
 Rogaine
 Prozac
 Viagra
 Prilosec
 Nylon
 Dacron
 PET
 Polystyrene
 Acrylics
 Teflon
 Rayon
 Polyaniline
•DNA
•Recombinant
Technology
•PCR

25. “Most of the environmental problems of
past centuries and decades, such as the
biological contamination of drinking water,
were solved only when the methods of
science in general—and chemistry in
particular—were applied to them. The
phenomenal rise in human life expectancy
and in the material quality of life that has
come about in recent decades is due in no
small measure to chemicals and chemistry.”
— Colin Baird, Environmental Chemistry.

26. THE POLLUTION
PREVENTION ACT OF 1990
• This was the U.S.
environmental law stating
that the first choice for
preventing pollution is to
design industrial processes
that do not lead to waste
production.
• This is the approach of green
chemistry.

27. GREEN CHEMISTRY
WORKS TOWARD
SUSTAINABILITY BY:
• Making chemical products that do not
harm either our health or the
environment,
• Using industrial processes that reduce
or eliminate hazardous chemicals, and

28. GREEN CHEMISTRY
WORKS TOWARD
SUSTAINABILITY BY:
• Designing more efficient processes
that minimize the production of waste
materials.

29. GREEN CHEMISTRY
MEANS…
• Preventing pollution before it
happens rather than cleaning up
the mess later.

30. GREEN CHEMISTRY
MEANS…
• Saving companies money by
using less energy and
fewer/safer chemicals, thus
reducing the costs of pollution
control and waste disposal.

31. GREEN CHEMISTRY
 Pollution Prevention Act 1990
 GC Began in 1991 at EPA, Paul Anastas
 1996 Presidential Green Chemistry
Challenge Awards
 1997 Green Chemistry and Engineering
Conference
 1999 Journal “Green Chemistry”
 Chemical & Engineering News
 2001 Journal of Chemical Education

32. Examples of Green Chemistry
 New syntheses of Ibuprofen and Zoloft.
 Integrated circuit production.
 Removing Arsenic and Chromate from pressure
treated wood.
 Many new pesticides.
 New oxidants for bleaching paper and disinfecting
water.
 Getting the lead out of automobile paints.
 Recyclable carpeting.
 Replacing VOCs and chlorinated solvents.
 Biodegradable polymers from renewable resources.
Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award Winners
For more informational on Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge
Award Winners: http://www.epa.gov/greenchemistry/presgcc.html

33. EXAMPLES OF
GREEN CHEMISTRY
• Safer dry cleaning
 Initially gasoline and kerosene were used
 Chlorinated solvents are now used, such as perc
 Supercritical/liquid carbon dioxide (CO2)

34. LEAD POLLUTION
HAS BEEN DECREASED BY…
• Replacing lead in paint with safe
alternatives, and
• Replacing tetraethyl lead with less
toxic additives (e.g., “lead-free”
gasoline).

35. CHEMICAL FOAMS
TO FIGHT FIRES
• Millions of tons of chemical fire-
fighting foams used worldwide
have discharged toxic substances
into the environment,
contaminating water supplies
and depleting the ozone layer.

36. PUTTING OUT FIRES
THE GREEN WAY
• A new foam called Pyrocool
FEF has now been invented
to put out fires effectively
without producing the toxic
substances found in other
fire-fighting materials.

37. CHEMICALS FOR
DRY CLEANING
• Perchloroethylene (“perc”) is the
solvent most widely used in dry
cleaning clothing.
• Perc is suspected of causing
cancer and its disposal can
contaminate ground water.

38. A SAFER METHOD OF
DRY CLEANING
• Liquid CO2 can be used as a safer
solvent if a wetting agent is used
with it to dissolve grease.
• This method is now being used
commercially by some dry cleaners.

39. GREEN CHEMISTRY
DEFINITION
Green Chemistry is the utilization of a set of principles
that reduces or eliminates
the use or generation of hazardous substances in the
design, manufacture and
application of chemical products *.
GREEN CHEMISTRY IS ABOUT
• Waste Minimisation at Source
• Use of Catalysts in place of Reagents
• Using Non-Toxic Reagents
• Use of Renewable Resources
• Improved Atom Efficiency
• Use of Solvent Free or Recyclable Environmentally Benign
Solvent systems
* Green Chemistry Theory & Practice, P T Anastas & J C Warner, Oxford University Press 1998

40. 1. Prevention
It is better to prevent waste than to treat or clean up waste after it has been created.
2. Atom Economy
Synthetic methods should be designed to maximise the incorporation of all materials
used in the process into the final product.
3. Less Hazardous Chemical Synthesis
Wherever practicable, synthetic methods should be designed to use and generate
substances that possess little or no toxicity to people or the environment.
4. Designing Safer Chemicals
Chemical products should be designed to effect their desired function while minimising
their toxicity.
5. Safer Solvents and Auxiliaries
The use of auxiliary substances (e.g., solvents or separation agents) should be made
unnecessary whenever possible and innocuous when used.
6. Design for Energy Efficiency
Energy requirements of chemical processes should be recognised for their environmental
and economic impacts and should be minimised. If possible, synthetic methods should be
conducted at ambient temperature and pressure.
The 12 Principles of Green Chemistry (1-6)
Source: Green Chemistry Theory and Practice, Anastas & Warner, OUP, 2000

41. 7 Use of Renewable Feedstocks
A raw material or feedstock should be renewable rather than depleting whenever technically and
economically practicable.
8 Reduce Derivatives
Unnecessary derivatization (use of blocking groups, protection/de-protection, and temporary modification
of physical/chemical processes) should be minimised or avoided if possible, because such steps require
additional reagents and can generate waste.
9 Catalysis
Catalytic reagents (as selective as possible) are superior to stoichiometric reagents.
10 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.
11 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.
12 Inherently Safer Chemistry for Accident Prevention
Substances and the form of a substance used in a chemical process should be chosen to minimise the
potential for chemical accidents, including releases, explosions, and fires.
The 12 Principles of Green Chemistry (7-12)

42. Green Chemistry Is About...
Waste
Materials
Hazard
Environmental Impact
COST
Risk
Energy

43. Catalysis
Process
Intensification
Separation
Processes
Energy
Efficiency
Solvent
Replacement
Safer Reactions
& Reagents
Use of
Renewable
Feedstocks
Waste
Minimisation
Some Aspects of Green Chemistry
Green
Chemistr
y

44. IN SUMMARY,
GREEN CHEMISTRY IS…
• Scientifically sound,
• Cost effective, and
• Leads toward a sustainable
civilization.