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SOME WELL-PUBLICIZED INCIDENTS FROM THE PAST FEW DECADES
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1. 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.
2. 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.
3. ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS DDT
CFCs
Love Canal
4. 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.
5. 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
7. Risk=f(Hazard, Exposure) environmental laws attempt to control exposure
Controlling Exposure =
“end of the pipe solution”
8. 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)
9. THE POLLUTION PREVENTION ACT OF 1990
Risk=f(HAZARD, Exposure)
Eliminate the hazard, no need to worry about the exposure!
10. 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.
13. “ Chemistry has an important role to play in achieving a sustainable civilization on earth.” — Dr. Terry Collins, Professor of ChemistryCarnegie Mellon University
14. WHAT IS A SUSTAINABLE CIVILIZATION?
15. 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.
16. 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.
17. 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.
18. 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).
19. IN A SUSTAINABLE CIVILIZATION… Manufacturing processes are either designed so as not to produce waste products,
– OR –
Waste products are recycled or biodegradable.
20. WHILE WE HAVE MADE SOME PROGRESS IN ACHIEVING THESE GOALS, WE STILL HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO… Mountains of solid waste are piling up—particularly in industrialized nations.
Air and water pollution continue to be problems in many places.
21. BUT HOW CAN CHEMISTRY HELP US TO ACHIEVE A SUSTAINABLE CIVILIZATION?
22. First, let’s consider chemistry’s benefits…The chemical industry produces many products that improve our lives and upon which we depend.
23. BENEFITS OF CHEMICAL INDUSTRY: Antibiotics and other medicines
Fertilizers, pesticides
Plastics
Nylon, rayon, polyester, and other synthetic materials
Gasoline and other fuels
Water purification
24. “Better Things for Better Living Through Chemistry” DuPont Ibuprophen
Lipitor
Celebrex
Vioxx
Rogaine
Prozac
Viagra
Prilosec
Nylon
Dacron
PET
Polystyrene
Acrylics
Teflon
Rayon
Polyaniline
Prilosec heartburn
Lipitor cholesterol
Rogaine hair loss
Celebrex, Vioxx arthritisPrilosec heartburn
Lipitor cholesterol
Rogaine hair loss
Celebrex, Vioxx arthritis
25. “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 general—and chemistry in particular—were 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.
26. 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.
27. 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
28. GREEN CHEMISTRY WORKS TOWARD SUSTAINABILITY BY: Designing more efficient processes that minimize the production of waste materials.
29. GREEN CHEMISTRY MEANS… Preventing pollution before it happens rather than cleaning up the mess later.
30. GREEN CHEMISTRY MEANS… Saving companies money by using less energy and fewer/safer chemicals, thus reducing the costs of pollution control and waste disposal.
31. 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 Its not easy being greenIts not easy being green
32. Examples of Green Chemistry 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.
33. 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)
34. 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).
35. CHEMICAL FOAMS TO FIGHT FIRES Millions of tons of chemical fire-fighting foams used worldwide have discharged toxic substances into the environment, contaminating water supplies and depleting the ozone layer.
36. 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.
37. 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.
38. 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.
39. 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
40. The 12 Principles of Green Chemistry (1-6)
41. The 12 Principles of Green Chemistry (7-12)
42. Green Chemistry Is About...
43. Some Aspects of Green Chemistry ..
44. IN SUMMARY,GREEN CHEMISTRY IS… Scientifically sound,
Cost effective, and
Leads toward a sustainable civilization.