Green Chemistry

is a science-based approach to pollution prevention and involves a set of principles to reduce or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances in the design, manufacture, or application of chemical products.

Principles

1. Prevention
2. Atom Economy
3. Less Hazardous Chemical Syntheses
4. Designing Safer Chemicals
5. Safer Solvents and Auxiliaries
6. Design for Energy Efficiency
7. Use of Renewable Feedstocks
8. Reduce Derivatives
9. Catalysis
10.Design for Degradation
11.Real-time analysis for Pollution Prevention
12.Inherently Safer Chemistry for Accident Prevention

Applications

• Production of new chemicals, materials, and products.
  - Considering the environmental footprint during the discovery process
  - New process design for production of currently marketable products
• Alternative synthetic routes
  - New separation processes
• New methods for delivery or product application
  - Alternative solvents
  - Energy vs. material activity
  

Benefits

• Increased Material Efficiency => Reduced Raw Materials Cost
• Increased Energy Efficiency => Reduced Energy Cost
• Waste Reduction => Pollution Control and Waste Disposal Costs Reduced
• Use of Less Hazardous Materials => Reduced Regulation (OSHA, DOT, EPA), Loss Time, and Liability
• Use of Renewables/Production of Degradable => Continued Feedstock Supply, Improved Public Perception, and Reduced Risk of Consumer Backlash
  

Examples of Green Chemistry Research Supported by NETI

Water Based Coatings (Professor Surita Bhatia, Chemical Engineering, UMass Amherst)

• Problem: Oil-based primers currently required for cedar and other high-tannin wood
  -Petroleum-based solvents
  -Substantial VOC emissions during drying
• Solution: New water-soluble co-polymers capable of blocking tannin bleed
  -Prevention (of VOC emissions)
  -Safer solvents
  -Inherently safer chemistry

Deposition of Metals from Supercritical CO2: An Environmentally Responsible Alternative for Metallization
Perspectives on Metal Plating Operations (Professor James Watkins, Chemical Engineering, UMass Amherst)

• Electroless and electrolytic plating are ubiquitous in the electronics and metal finishing industries
  - Typical plating solutions contain metal salts and toxic reducing agents such as hydrazine
  - Tens of millions of pounds of soluble toxic metal ions including, nickel and chromium, seep into the nation's water bodies from metal finishing operations each year
  - Remediation of plating waste yields regulated hazardous sludge
• A Clean Solution: Rather than Remediate, Eliminate Plating Baths
  - Metal can be deposited efficiently by reduction of precursors in supercritical carbon dioxide
  - Effluent contains only CO2 and light hydrocarbons that are easily stripped or recovered
  - Low Tech - High Tech: deposits meet the most demanding requirements (microelectronics)
  - Ni, Cu, Au and other metals are possible