a science revolution in green chemistry
launched 20 years ago is paving the way
to a sustainable world that supports a
healthy and vibrant economy the science
builds on great achievements by chemists
and chemical engineers for 150 years or
more chemists have been finding out ways
to put together new molecules and
they've done it in a way that have
achieved astounding things modern
chemistry has improved our lives
provided an amazing array of consumer
products put food on our table and saved
lives with new medicines yet many of
these achievements have come with a
price now with all of those
accomplishments there's been one piece
that had been missing that piece is
ensuring that well we achieve those
goals we also don't cause harm to human
health of the environment that's what
green chemistry is all about green
chemistry is the design of chemical
products and processes that reduce or
eliminate the use or generation of
hazardous substances EPA
is at the forefront of this green
chemistry movement in partnership with
industry innovations are moving from the
lab to the marketplace green chemistry
is something that EPA is advancing both
by engaging with the outside world
giving giving grants engaging on
education industrial partnerships but
also in research that goes on right at
EPA labs one of the things that we do
best BPA is finding innovative solutions
to real world problems
that's what green chemistry is about the
research that we do has to be focused on
the needs of the country few needs are
more pressing than the challenge to meet
our transportation energy demands
biofuels promise to play a larger role
although obstacles remain promising new
technology developed by EPA engineers
called membrane assisted vapor stripping
can more efficiently separate water from
the alcohol and cuts the energy demand
in half
for making the biofuel less energy
consumption means less air pollution and
also reduced manufacturing costs
innovations are also leading to new ways
to make nanomaterials EPA scientists are
working to ensure that these tiny wonder
materials being produced for so many
different products and applications do
not cause harm to the public or the
environment
we don't use any toxic material at all
to make these nanomaterials in the first
place that is the key thing in our
approach we use sugar we use antioxidant
present in tea coffee wine or wine waste
like great promise dr. Raj Varma and his
team have developed dozens of new and
patented methods for the chemical
industry and others to make compounds in
environmentally friendly ways using
nanomaterials as catalysts the consumer
products you use clothes cosmetics cars
and electronics to name just a few are
made for the most part using a similar
chemical process various chemicals are
mixed together in large amounts of
potentially toxic liquids solvents to
get a final chemical product
Pharmaceuticals are made in this fashion
as well eighty to eighty-five percent of
the waste that is generated in
pharmaceutical processes is solvent
related so if we can remove the solvent
from a synthesis paradigm we can remove
a significant amount of waste EPA
developed the spinning tube in tube
technology that takes solvents and their
waste out of the chemical making process
at the pilot stage the spinning tube in
tube reactor that's being used in dr.
Michael Gonzalez's lab fits on a large
table and can produce two to twelve tons
of chemicals a year the same as a large
chemical reactor using solvents the
technology reduces waste produces
chemicals much more quickly and reduces
production costs to design greener
chemicals EPA scientists have developed
computer software which is used by
molecular designers around the world the
tool is
called tests so what this allows you to
do is before you even walk into the
laboratory you can draw the structure of
the molecule that you're thinking about
making based on that structure this
software program will give you some
estimation as to the toxicity of that
compound the advantage of being able to
predict toxicity by a computer and not
have them go to a laboratory obviously
saves time saves money Healing a lot of
these studies that are done in the lab
take take years we can do an evaluation
in seconds on the computer green
chemistry is being adopted and embraced
by business and industry but for every
product or industrial process that's
been reinvented in this sustainable and
green way there are probably a hundred
that have yet to be looked at through
the green chemistry lens green chemistry
has shown us what's possible it's a
framework for saying that we can design
our products and processes so that
they're sustainable using renewable
materials using manufacturing processes
that generate less waste and use less
toxic substances having products that
aren't of concern for our children or
ourselves or our ecosystem and at the
end of life these substances are going
to go back into the environment and
degrade and innocuous ways it's showing
us what's possible now the question is
will we engage on this challenge this
great scientific challenge with the
urgency with the focus that is going to
be needed quite frankly with a focus
that sustainability demands we can and I
believe we will because we must
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