green chemistry and sustainable innovationprinciples of green chemistry 1. it is better to prevent...

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

Conferences

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

www.greenchemistry.yale.edu

paul.anastas@yale.edu