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SUSTAINABILITY AND THE ROLE OF THE CHEMIST
Citation:
GONZALEZ, M. SUSTAINABILITY AND THE ROLE OF THE CHEMIST. Presented at 2007 Spring National Meeting, American Chemical Society, Chicago, IL, March 24 - 29, 2007.
Impact/Purpose:
To inform the public
Description:
Chemical and engineering research over the past ten years has seen a dramatic increase in activity in the area of green chemistry. As these developments continue to be explored, it is reasonable that some of these chemistries or technologies have the potential to be implemented on the plant scale. With this in mind, a new green process will most certainly have a potential impact on the sustainability of a process. It is especially important that we as chemists who devise and design these green and efficient routes, be aware of the potential benefits and drawbacks of these novel processes. The sustainability of a chemical process can be identified by four indicators that evaluate a particular reaction or process. These indicators, known as the 4E's, are classified as Environment, Energy, Efficiency and Economics. To be discussed are concepts of this indicator model as well as methodologies which are available to assist chemists with developing a green chemistry with a vision for a sustainable chemistry.