Green Chemistry Metrics

Quantifying the environmental impact of chemical technologies and products, and comparing alternative products and technologies in terms of their “greenness” is a challenging task. In order to characterise various aspects of a complex phenomenon, a number of different indicators are selected into a metric. This book outlines fundamental developments in chemistry and chemical technology that have led to the development of green chemistry, green chemical technology, and sustainable chemical technology concepts, and provide a foundation for the development of the corresponding metrics. It includes different approaches to metrics, and case study examples of their applications, and problems in practice.

Green Chemistry Metrics is aimed at graduate students and researchers, practitioners and environmental managers in industry, metrics developers, and governmental agencies and NGOs in the area of environmental protection and sustainability. The main focus will be on chemical processes, however the book will be relevant to other industry sectors such as energy, electronics, healthcare, food and consumer products.

Preface vii

List of Contributors ix

1 Introduction 1
Martin A. Abraham, James Clark and Neil Winterton

2 Incentives for Using Green Chemistry and the Presentation of an Approach for Green Chemical Design 27
Nicholas D. Anastas

3 Green Product Design 41
Richard Miller

4 Application of Green Metrics Analysis to Chemical Reactions and Synthesis Plans 69
John Andraos

5 Mass Balances and Life Cycle Assessment 200
Marco Eissen, Georg Geisler, Bruno Bühler, Christian Fischer, Konrad Hungerbühler, Andreas Schmid and Erick M. Carreira

6 Process Metrics 228
David J.C. Constable, Conchita Jimenez-Gonzalez and Alexei Lapkin

7 Application of LCA in Process Development 248
Dana Kralisch

8 Tools and Strategies for Greening Chemical Inventories in Small Businesses 272
Lauren Heine and Teresa McGrath

Index 321

Dr Alexei Lapkin has been at the University of Bath, Department of Chemical Engineering, since 1997. He graduated from Novosibirsk State University, Russia in 1994. Dr. David J. C. Constable has been with GlaxoSmithKline in the Corporate Environment, Health and Safety Department since 1991. He received his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA in 1986.

Dr David J.C. Constable is currently the Director of EHS Product Stewardship Team, Corporate Environment, Health and Safety, at GlaxoSmithKline.

Contributors to the book:

Dr Martin Abraham
Dr Nick D. Anastas
Dr John Andraos
Dr Bruno Bühler
Professor Enick M. Carreira
Dr James Clark
Dr Marco Eissen
Dr Christian Fischer
Dr Georg Geisler
Dr Lauren Heine
Professor Konrad Hungerbühle
Dr Conchita Jimenez-Gonzalez
Dr Dana Kralisch
Dr Alexei Lapkin
Ms Teresa McGrath
Dr Richard Miller
Professor Andreas Schmid
Dr Neil Winterton

Quantifying the environmental impact of chemical technologies and products, and comparing alternative products and technologies in terms of their “greenness” is a challenging task. In order to characterise various aspects of a complex phenomenon, a number of different indicators are selected into a metric. This book outlines fundamental developments in chemistry and chemical technology that have led to the development of green chemistry, green chemical technology, and sustainable chemical technology concepts, and provide a foundation for the development of the corresponding metrics. It includes different approaches to metrics, and case study examples of their applications, and problems in practice.

Green Chemistry Metrics is aimed at graduate students and researchers, practitioners and environmental managers in industry, metrics developers, and governmental agencies and NGOs in the area of environmental protection and sustainability. The main focus will be on chemical processes, however the book will be relevant to other industry sectors such as energy, electronics, healthcare, food and consumer products.