Sustainability in

Chemical Industries
What is Sustainability??
commonly defined as meeting the
needs of the present generation
without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own
needs.
Example : Pulp & paper industries. We
need paper (variety types of paper) everyday.
In order to get what we need today, we will
chop more trees. If we do not take any action
to plant it back, in the future they will be no
trees and will cause the environmental
How about Sustainability
Development?
defined as development that meets the
needs of the present generation without
compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs.

Sustainable development will only become

a reality if its three elements -economic,
environmental and social - can be
reconciled with and fully integrated into our
daily business.
Sustainable Development
Chemical Industries towards
sustainability development
The chemical industry is a key
industry its products and services
are instrumental in meeting the
needs of mankind and are all around
us in our everyday lives from food
and clothing, housing and
communications, to transport and
leisure activities.
ENVIRONMENT
Unsustainable Situation
An "unsustainable situation" occurs
when natural capital (the sum total
of nature's resources) is used up
faster than it can be replenished.
ENVIRONMENT

Consumption State of Sustainability

of renewable environment
resources
More than Environmental Not sustainable
nature's ability degradation
to replenish
Equal to
Environmental
nature's ability Steady State
equilibrium
to replenish
Less than
Environmental Sustainable
nature's ability
renewal development
to replenish
ECONOMICS (FINANCIAL)
&
SOCIAL CHALLENGES
Sustainability Challenges
The Chemical Industry faces a
huge sustainability challenge
from both a financial and a
societal perspective
What can the Chemical Industry do
to solve its sustainability challenge?
companies must take a systematic
value-centered approach focused
on simultaneously addressing both
their financial and their societal
challenges.
What is value-centered
approach?
value-centered approach starts with an
understanding of the companys
stakeholders
Stakeholders are individuals and groups
that are impacted by (or impact) the firms
value chain, participating voluntarily or
involuntarily in the creation or transfer of
value.
Stakeholders are a key to broadening the
vision and driving innovation. A number of
key stakeholder groups are shown. They
are divided into the traditional economic
Value-centered approach
What is value-centered
approach?
also called as sustainable value
Sustainable Value is value that is
positive for shareholders and
stakeholders.
Sustainable Matrix

This matrix shows shareholder value on the vertical axis and

stakeholder value in the horizontal axis

Sustainable value is represented by the upper right quadrant

shown in green
Risk & Opportunity

Stakeholders provide insight into hidden risks and opportunities

When a companys product or business is operating in the upper left quadrant there are hidden (and sometimes not
so hidden) risks. These could include loss of sales, etc

When operating in the sustainable quadrant (the upper right) there are a number of benefits and opportunities such
as enhanced reputation, etc
Solutions on Sustainability
challenge
The pressure to create solutions
should be directed at both the
strategic and operational levels.
This solutions lays out the range of
operational and strategic risks and
opportunities that the chemical
industry faces today.
Solutions on Sustainability
challenge
Solutions on Sustainability
challenge
The left side shows the operational
risks and opportunities, the right
side shows the strategic risks and
opportunities and the green at the
bottom shows the benefits in
terms of brand value and
reputation, license to operate,
attracting and retaining talent,
cost savings and revenue
enhancements.
Solutions on Sustainability
challenge
The two major strategic risks are
1) persistent toxins such as dioxin
and mercury that accumulate in the
food chain and are now found in
mammals and fish in even the most
remote parts of the world.
2) global climate change.
Solutions on Sustainability
challenge
Green chemistry and
biotechnology provide the potential
for overcoming the two major
strategic risks through radical
innovation for new products and
markets.
 Objective for Future Chem
Engineering
Increase productivity and selectivity through
intensification of intelligent operations and a
multiscale approach to processes control (e.g.,
nano- or microtailoring of catalyst materials).
Design novel equipment based on scientific
principles and new production methods: process
intensification in using multifunctional reactors,
microengineering & microtechnology.
Extend chemical engineering methodology to
product design and engineering using the triplet
molecular Processes-Product-Process Engineering
(3PE) approach to manufacture end-use
properties.
To be sustainable, a system must simply find a balance of resources, so that
the systems processes or states may be continued indefinitely over time. Over
the past few years, in particular, increased awareness of sustainability
principles has given rise to an entirely new sub-discipline of design, known as
sustainable design

As the diagram illustrates, sustainability of a system is achieved when the

three essential aspects of responsible design - economic, social and
environmental - are adequately balanced with one another. To achieve this
balance, the designer must be equally sensitive to social-environmental,
environmental-economic, and economic-social issues, and must be willing and
able to address difficult concerns, such as natural resource stewardship,
energy efficiency, business ethics and workers rights.
The current practice of society and the world is obviously unsustainable,
reflected by those major issues on population growth, energy consumption,
global climate change and resource depletion.
the process towards sustainability cannot rely simply on how to reduce wastes at the source of the
contamination, but also must depend on the need to increase productivity and quality of rubber
and to fix market structures to provide needed equity for smallholders. A higher income above the s
ubsistence level will allow smallholders to 'buy' time to consider better environmental options for
their management practices. Partial and temporary subsidies from the Government to motivated
smallholders and other impoverished stakeholders of the industry may be of benefit to help break the
poverty cycle. Establishment of smallholders co-operatives may be also be useful to acquire enough funds
for new training and capital required to overhaul the industry. Further, lessons may be learnt about quality
control from the Thai market, where higher grade rubber earns appreciably more export dollars per hectare.

However, considerable resources need to be invested in training and educating smallholders and plantation employees
in the use of practices and technology needed for change towards sustainability.
At the upstream level, since most of the productions of petroleum and gas are
from continental shelf and deepwater, the environmental concern is more on
the marine pollution. Whereas, at the downstream level, the environmental
issues are such as the emission of gas, transportation, storage and utilisation
of petroleum and gas.

The Environmental Quality Act 1974 (EQA 1974)3 is the primary legislation on
all aspects of environmental management in Malaysia. This act is seen to be
the most comprehensive legislation covering pollutions on soil, water and air
so as to suit the nationals objective in preserving the quality of environment in
the country.

Sustainability is about respecting the process at work, in our ecosystem so as

to ensure, or at least prolong our survival as species, and concerns our level
of connectedness with future generations.8 As part of energy regulation, the
Malaysian government has formulated a number of policies to ensure the
sustainability of petroleum in the country.
The National Energy Policy Objectives 1979 for instance aims to have an
efficient, secure and environmentally sustainable supply of energy in the future
as well as to have an efficient and clean utilisation of energy. Realizing that the
oil reserves was depleting, the government had then introduced the National
Depletion Policy 1980 as a strategy to safeguard the reserves.

To reduce heavy reliance on oil as the source of energy, the government

introduced the Four Fuel Strategy in the year 1981 which aims for a supply of
mix of oil, gas, hydropower and coal in energy use. As far as the environment is
concerned, all major energy development projects are subjected to the
mandatory environmental impact assessment requirement.
For the Ninth Plan period, the energy sector will continue to focus on sustainable development in line with the thrust of the National
Mission to improve the standard and sustainability of the quality of life which will emphasize on efficient production and utilisation
while meeting environmental objectives

energy supply

- improving the productivity and efficiency of energy suppliers and promoting market-based approach in determining energy prices

- reducing high dependence on petroleum products by increasing the use of alternative fuels

- promoting greater use of renewable energy for power generation and by industries

- intensifying energy efficiency initiatives in the industrial, transport and commercial sectors as well as in government buildings

- expanding rural electricity coverages, particularly in Sabah and Sarawak and

- developing new sources of growth in the energy sector including participation of local companies in energy related industries and
services abroad.
To ensure sustainable supply of oil and gas, appraisal wells will
continue to be drilled in small oil fields offshore and deepwater areas
(more than 200m) and ultra deepwater of more than one kilometre
especially in Sabah and Sarawak. The government is expected to
continue collaborations with oil companies by making attractive
contractual agreements. Apart from that, incentives will be reviewed to
encourage transport operators to convert their vehicles to NGV.

The government has shown its concern to enhance the quality on

environment and to preserve the sustainability of its resources through
various strategies and policies.