Sustainability in the Chemical Industry Grand Challenges and Research Needs (2006) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
1. Introduction
1. Introduction
Pages 10-18
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 10... ...
One of the main issues with this dependence is that the combustion of fossil fuels produces carbon dioxide (CO2) and other waste products such as particulate matter, which end up in the atmosphere and have significant consequences for human health and the environment.
|
From page 11... ...
.4 These forces combined with transparency requirements, liability risks, and health indicators make sustainability goals, along with innovation, increasingly integral components of a company's ability to compete in the marketplace.5 Go to the web site of any global top 50 chemical companies6 -- from the top three, Dow Chemical, BASF, and DuPont who each have 2004 sales in the $30-40 billion range, to number 45 on the list Lyondell Chemical with 2004 sales of about $6 billion -- and there will be a statement of commitment to achieving sustainability goals. For example, the following statement appears on the Lyondell web site: We aim to achieve excellence in every aspect of our economic, social, and environmental performance.
|
From page 12... ...
Pharmaceutical companies in particular have been quite successful. In 2002, prescription and over the counter drug companies invested more than $32 billion in discovering and developing new medicines, marking the thirty-second straight year the industry has increased its investment in R&D.9 As part of this effort, many companies are turning to green chemistry -- "the design, development, and implementation of chemical processes and manufactured products to reduce or eliminate substances hazardous to human health and the environment"10 -- and applying the twelve principles11 (Box 1.1)
|
From page 13... ...
.13 Together with green chemistry, the application of these principles ideally provide one or more of the following benefits: · Lower costs of chemical processing · Require less energy 12See EPA Presidental Green Chemistry Challenge web site: http://www.epa.gov/ greenchemistry/presgcc.html 13Ritter, S
|
From page 14... ...
10. Design chemicals and products to degrade after use: Design chemical products to break down to innocuous substances after use so that they do not accumulate in the environment.
|
From page 15... ...
8. Create engineering solutions beyond current or dominant technolo gies; improve, innovate, and invent (technologies)
|
From page 16... ...
Panel Report on Environmentally Benign Manufacturing18 identified the environmental research challenges facing the polymer processing industry, and the Vision2020 roadmap19 discusses environmental considerations for the CPI as a whole. In 2003, the UK Royal Society of Chemistry released the report Benign and Sustainable Chemical Technologies, which identified research opportunities to support sustainability in several areas, including: raw materials, agriculture and chemistry; new chemical routes (solvents and chemicals)
|
From page 17... ...
They discussed improvements in energy efficient separation processes; utilization of enzyme catalysts for energy reduction and selectivity increases; improvements in energy efficiency for the production of biofuels and biofeedstocks; development of more effective lubricants; step change improvements in the use of solar energy and other renewable energy sources; and technological breakthroughs in CO2 separation, sequestration and use, were all addressed. Based largely on the results of the two-day workshop, and the knowledge and experience of organizing committee members, this report identifies a set of overarching Grand Challenges for achieving sustainability in the chemistry industry, and makes recommendations about areas of research required to address those challenges.
|
From page 18... ...
Based on these discussions, the set of recommended Grand Challenges and related research needs are provided in Chapter 6.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.