GREEN

CHEMISTRY
BY: SIDHANT
PRAKASH

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.

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.

ENVIRONMENTAL
DISASTERS
DDT
CFCs
Love Canal

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.

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

Growth in Environmental Regulation

EPACT
FFCA
CERFA
CRAA
AMFA
ARPAA
AJA
ASBCAA
ESAA-AECA
FFRAA
FEAPRA
IRA
NWPAA
CODRA/NMSPAA
FCRPA
MMPAA

120
110
100

APA
SWDA
CERCLA
CZMIA
COWLDA
FWLCA
MPRSAA
CAAA
CWA
SMCRA
SWRCA
SDWAA

90
80

NAWCA

RCRAA
WLDI

50

AQA
FOIA

40

WQA
NWPA

ARPA

BLBA
HMTA
FWPCA
MPRSA
CZMA ESA
NCA TAPA
FEPCA
PWSA
MMPA

60
Laws

Number of

70

AQ
A

SDWAA
SARA
MPRSAA

FRRRPA
SOWA
DPA

FCMHSA

WRPA
AFCA

30
TA
FWCA
BPA

20
10
YA

0
1870 1880 1890

RHA

WA
NBRA
IA
AA

1900

NPS

1910 1920

MBCA

1930

AEPA

FHSA
NFMUA
FIFRA PAA

FAWRA
NLRA
WPA

1940

1950

NHPA
WLDA
FWCAA
FWA
AEA

1960

1970

WSRA
EA
RCFHSA

1980

PPA
PPVA
IEREA
ANTPA
GLCPA
ABA
CZARA
WRDA
EDP
OPA
RECA
CAAA
GCRA
GLFWRA
HMTUSA
NEEA

1990

BLRA
ERDDAA
EAWA
NOPPA
PTSA
UMTRCA
ESAA
QGA
NCPA
TSCA
FLPMA
RCRA
NFMA
CZMAA
NEPA
EQIA
CAA
EPA
EEA
OSHA
FAWRAA
NPAA

2000

Risk Due to a Hazardous Substance

Risk=f(Hazard, Exposure)
environmental laws attempt to control exposure

Controlling Exposure =
end of the pipe solution

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)

THE POLLUTION PREVENTION

ACT OF 1990

Risk=f(HAZARD, Exposure)
Eliminate the hazard, no need
to worry about the exposure!

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.

GREENCHEMISTRY
CHEMISTRY
GREEN

PREVENTING POLLUTION
SUSTAINING THE EARTH

 Chemistry has an important role to

play in achieving a sustainable
civilization on earth.
Dr. Terry Collins, Professor of Chemistry
Carnegie Mellon University

WHAT IS A
SUSTAINABLE
CIVILIZATION?

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.

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.

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.

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).

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

WHILE WE HAVE MADE SOME

PROGRESS IN ACHIEVING
THESE GOALS, WE STILL
HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO
Mountains of solid waste are piling
upparticularly in industrialized
nations.
Air and water pollution continue to
be problems in many places.

BUT HOW CAN

CHEMISTRY HELP US
TO ACHIEVE
A SUSTAINABLE
CIVILIZATION?

First, lets consider chemistrys benefits

The chemical industry produces many
products that improve our lives
and upon which we depend.

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

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

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 generaland chemistry in
particularwere 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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Examples of Green Chemistry

Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award Winners
For more informational on Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge
Award Winners: http://www.epa.gov/greenchemistry/presgcc.html

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.

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)

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).

CHEMICAL FOAMS
TO FIGHT FIRES

Millions of tons of chemical firefighting foams used worldwide

have discharged toxic substances
into the environment,
contaminating water supplies
and depleting the ozone layer.

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.

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.

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.

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

The 12 Principles of Green Chemistry (1-6)

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.
Source: Green Chemistry Theory and Practice, Anastas & Warner, OUP, 2000

The 12 Principles of Green Chemistry (7-12)

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.

Green Chemistry Is About...

Waste
Materials
Hazard
Risk

Energy
Environmental Impact
COST

Some Aspects of Green Chemistry

Safer Reactions

Catalysis

& Reagents

Separation
Processes

Solvent

Green

Replacement
Use of

Chemistr
y

Renewable
Feedstocks

Energy
Waste

Efficiency
Process
Intensification

Minimisation

IN SUMMARY,
GREEN CHEMISTRY IS

Scientifically sound,
Cost effective, and
Leads toward a sustainable
civilization.