Green Chemistry and Green Chemical Engineering

Green Chemistry and Green Chemical Engineering?

The invention, design, and application of chemical products and processes that consume only renewable raw materials and energy make highly efficient use of raw materials and energy reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances reduce or eliminate the release of substances harmful to humans and the environment

Economics and Environmental Performance Evaluation

• We should make economic evaluations at each step in process design.

• We should make environmental performance evaluations at each step in process design.

• We quickly discover that economic performance and environmental performance are related. 

Designing Green Products

• Chemical products should be designed to

– Use renewable resources

– maximize the incorporation of all materials used in the process into the final product,

– preserve efficacy of function while reducing toxicity, and

– break down into innocuous degradation products at the end of their function so that they do not persist in the environment. 

Tools:

• Atom and mass efficiencies

• Materials selection criteria

• Life cycle analysis

Selection of a Process Solvent

Evaluate these choices of solvent in terms of their potential environmental impact if discharged to the environment:

• Trichloroethylene

• Triethylamine

• Ethyl lactate 

Guiding Principles for Sustainable Chemical Process Industries

• Produce or use no hazardous materials

• No contamination of the environment

• Low energy consumption

• Low capital and manufacturing costs