A New Course In Green Chemistry And Benign Processing

The material and energy demands of modern society hinge critically on the viability and progress of the chemical and allied industries, which both provide consumer products and support other industrial sectors. The burgeoning world population over the past one hundred years, augmented by enhanced life expectancy and improved quality of life, can be tied to a significant degree to products of the chemical and allied industries. Unfortunately, the public perception of these industries is hopelessly negative for a variety of reasons, most particularly environmental issues. Consequently, the U.S. and world chemical industries are at a crossroads as we enter the first decade of the 21 century. Commodity chemical manufacture is migrating increasingly toward developing countries, where labor and raw material costs are low and negative public sentiment is tempered by economic gain. The U.S. and other developed countries are increasingly focused on higher-value specialty products such as pharmaceuticals, foods, cosmetics, electronics, and agricultural products where technology and new products drive the marketplace. Yet even as these changes shield developed countries to a degree, there is an increasing global voice that chemicals manufacture ought to have less impact on the world environment and that it moves toward long-term sustainability (e.g. without depletion of resources). Treaties such as the Kyoto agreement, which intend to set emissions limits on a worldwide basis, legislation in Europe regarding recycling, reuse, and alternate resources, and research programs in the U.S. directed at energy efficiency and bio-based feedstocks lend further impetus to the global movement to reduce waste and develop sustainable production.