green chemistry and sustainable innovationprinciples of green chemistry 1. it is better to prevent...
TRANSCRIPT
Green Chemistry and
Sustainable Innovation
1
CHEF
• The meals I make
are delicious!
Sure they’re
poisonous.
But there are other
chefs working on
“non-lethal cooking”.
ARCHITECT
The homes I’ve built are luxurious and attractive.
Sure they collapse and kill people on a regular basis.
But there are other builders who are working on “safe housing”.
CAR DESIGNER
I build the most
beautiful and fastest
cars in the world.
They often fall apart
and explode
unexpectedly.
But there are other
car designers working
on “sustainable cars”.
CHEMIST
I’ve developed some of the best methodologies and processes for making hundreds of target molecules.
Sure they harm humans and the environment.
But there are other chemists working on “green chemistry”.
Absurdity then.
Absurdity now.
- Developmental
delays
- Infertility
- Cancer
- Obesity
- Behavioral
problems
Mahoney et al. Toxicol and applied Pharmacol,
2010.
Soto et al. Nature Reviews: Endocrinology, 2010.
Today.
Today.
Today.
Today.
70% of Smallmouth
Bass in the
Mississippi River
are intersex.
Source, USGS: http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=2305
Today.
Over 90% of
Florida
Panthers’
sperm are
abnormal.
Many are
completely
sterile.
And source Facemire et al.EHP, 1995.
Today.
Source : UNEP
The total volume of water on Earth:
~1.4 billion km3
Percent of total that is freshwater:
2.5%
Percent of Freshwater locked up in
ice & snow: ~70 %
Percent freshwater that is
drinkable: <1%
Today.
In developing countries, 70% of industrial wastes are dumped
untreated into waters where they pollute the usable water
supply. Source: UNEP
Today.
--Source, US EPA
In 2009, the U.S.
generated 30
million tons of
plastic waste.
Equal to the weight of
nearly 100 Empire
State Buildings.
Only 7 % was recovered for recycling.
Today.
The Pacific Trash Vortex Today.
Marine trash kills more than 1
million seabirds and 100,000
mammals and sea turtles each
year. Source, UN
Statement
Today.
Persistence
Chemicals in t he Environment
• Toxics Release Invent ory (TRI)
• 4.44 billion lbs. of t oxic chemicals were released
direct ly t o air, wat er, and land in 2009
– Only 650 of t oxic chemicals and t oxic chemical
cat egories out of 78,000 in commerce are
t racked by TRI
2010, Bloomberg News
Wegmans stops selling reusable bags after lead tests
2010, Bloomberg News
Wegmans stops selling reusable bags after lead tests
2010, NY Times
Hydrocarbons in Cereal
Stoke New Debate Over
Food Safety
2010, The Sun Chronicle
Toxic Beauty
2010, Maine Public Broadcasting Network
Report: Cosmetic Products Contain High Levels of Toxic
Chemicals
2009, BBC News
Deet bug repellent 'toxic
worry'
2009, The
Charleston Gazette
Study finds food-
wrapper chemicals
in blood
We strive to do the “right things”
for our air water, and land.
But are we….
doing the right things, wrong?
water
toxics climate energy
biodiversity
Unintended Consequences
Biofuels that
compete with
food, feed,
and land use
Unintended Consequences
Purifying
water with
acutely lethal
substances
Unintended Consequences
Renewable
energy through
the use of
precious, rare,
toxic metals in
photovoltaics
Unintended Consequences
Agricultural crop
efficiency from
persistent
pesticides
Unintended Consequences
Energy saving
compact fluorescent
light bulbs reliant on
toxic metals
How did we get there?
• Urgent and necessary challenges
• Noble goals
• Exciting science and technology
• Best of intentions
• Lack of systems thinking.
Design for a Systems Context
Historically environmental protection has been shaped
by questions like:
What is the maximum amount of pollution that
can be emitted into the air without sacrificing regulatory
compliance?
What is the highest level of toxicity that can be
present in our products without breaking the law?
How many people must fall ill before a standard
needs to be strengthened?
How do we do the
Right Things, Right?
Definition of
Green Chemistry
• The design of chemical products and
processes that reduce or eliminate the use and
generation of hazardous substances
All we have is…
energy
matter
energy
Principles of Green Chemist ry
1. It is better to prevent waste than to treat or clean up waste after it is formed.
2. Synthetic methods should be designed to maximize the incorporation of all materials used in the process
into the final product.
3. Wherever practicable, synthetic methodologies should be designed to use and generate substances that
possess little or no toxicity to human health and the environment.
4. Chemical products should be designed to preserve efficacy of function while reducing toxicity.
5. The use of auxiliary substances (e.g. solvents, separation agents, etc.) Should be made unnecessary
wherever possible and, innocuous when used.
6. Energy requirements should be recognized for their environmental and economic impacts and should be
minimized. Synthetic methods should be conducted at ambient temperature and pressure.
7. A raw material of feedstock should be renewable rather than depleting wherever technically and
economically practicable.
8. Reduce derivatives - Unnecessary derivatization (blocking group, protection/ deprotection, temporary
modification) should be avoided whenever possible.
9. Catalytic reagents (as selective as possible) are superior to stoichiometric reagents.
10. Chemical products should be designed so that at the end of their function they do not persist in the
environment and break down into innocuous degradation products.
11. 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. Substances and the form of a substance used in a chemical process should be chosen to minimize
potential for chemical accidents, including releases, explosions, and fires.
Books
Journals
Articles
1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Headlines
Research
AqueousSolvents
Biobased
Transformations
Biobased materials
Alternative Energy Science
Synthetic Methodologies
Next Gen
Catalysts
Molecular
Self-Assembly
Breakthroughs
Green Nano
RT Ionic Liquids
Degradable Polymers
Molecular Design
Biofuels Reactor Design
SCF
Networks
Business
Green Chemistry across
Industrial Sectors
• Defense and aerospace
– Adhesives, coatings, corrosion inhibitors
• Automotive
– Solvents, polymers, fuels
• Household cleaners
– Surfactants, fragrances, dyes
• Cosmetics
– Builders, chelating agents, dyes
• Agriculture
– Pesticides, fungicides, fertilizers
• Electronics
– Solder, housings, displays
• Pharmaceuticals
HOW THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
MAKES ADHESIVES AND PLASTICS
1. Reactive starting materials.
2. Potentially toxic “initiators”.
3. Potentially toxic additives for:
Flexibility / Stiffness
Strength
Color
Stability, etc.
Mussel Byssus
Adhesives
Biomimicry
Abalone Shell
• Twice as hard as high-tech ceramics.
• Behaves like metal under stress.
Abalone
Ceramics Factory
How Industry Makes Ceramics
• BEAT… clay to proper consistency.
• BAKE… at high temperatures (2000 - 3000 Of).for
prolonged periods (15 – 50 Hours).
(Ceramics Industry Major Contributor To Global Warming)
made by abalone
made by GE
“Insanity is doing the same things in the same way
and expecting different results each time” – Einstein
Key concepts and relation to sustainable design
Fundamental concept: Technologies tend to evolve in
similar ways towards “ideality”, where all of the benefits of a
product can be achieved while the product itself ceases to
exist physically.
What?
Sustainability, & chemical product design
Coffee decaffeination using
methylene chloride
Coffee decaffeination using
CO2 (not a “solvent” by FDA)
Coffee beans without caffeine
Fabric dying
Dye produces various
colors, but adds cost and
waste issues.
Transfer dye function to
main tool (cotton); naturally
colored cotton.
Sustainability, & chemical product design
The task is the cleaning of clothes; current product is detergent.
Detergent Concentrated
detergent Self-cleaning
clothes?
Desired Outcomes & System Definition
Our company makes
lawnmowers; we decide
the consumer wants a
greener lawnmower…
Ideas:
Quieter mower
More fuel efficient
Runs on waste corn oil
Solar powered
Taking step back….desired customer outcome is grass of
certain height…..no-mow grass….eliminate the mower entirely.
Look at the system + desired customer outcome
Or, take a step back
and use the rust as
the protective
coating…USX Tower
in Pittsburgh
Free Resources & Subtraction
How we typically waterproof surfaces…
How the lotus leaf does the job: Super-hydrophobic surfaces
A leaf with super-
hydrophobic
properties: air as
the unused local
resource.
Eliminates need for
traditional hydrophobes
Is it really all we have?
energy
matter
energy
