Methods for Sustainability in the Chemical Industry

Ola Agoro

Table of Contents (Jump to)

INTRODUCTION

WAYS OF MAINTAINING SUSTAINABILITY IN THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY

1. RENEWABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY

2. CATALYSIS

3. EFFICIENT WASTE MANAGEMENT AND RECYCLE

4. SAFER SOLVENT

CONCLUSION

REFERENCE

INTRODUCTION

Also known as green chemistry, sustainability in the chemical industry is the practise or a viewpoint of chemical researches that is design to focus on the reduction or elimination of the chemical processes that results to the production of a generation of hazardous substances particularly to the environment and humanity (USEPA, 2015).

With reference to the current climatic changes, physical evidences shows that the rate at which solar energy is received from the sun compared to the rate at which it is lost to space, has severely increased over the previous decades, Hence, negatively affecting the climates of different regions across the globe. This could be correlated to the fact that many chemical processes used in the industries today are not sustainable enough (Blackstone 2015).

Figure 1: Gas Emission from a Chemical Plant

Source: www.texastribune.org

WAYS OF MAINTAINING SUSTAINABILITY IN THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY

There are several approaches to maintain sustainability in the chemical industry today; however this report concentrated on four of them;

1. RENEWABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY

Most chemical processes requires energy in order to materialize, and with fossil fuel becoming progressively more scarce with comparison to demand, there is the necessity to find alternative sources, such as recycled or renewable energy. The aftereffects of using fossil fuel, particularly to operate a chemical plant such an ammonia plant for example is that a large amount of Carbon-monoxide is produced as by-product hence contributing to the current global challenges of climate change (University of York, 2014).

Ways of Using Energy Effectively

• By using good insulative materials and well-sustained equipment, heat loss will be reduced during the process of production and any surplus heat should be re-used to produced hot water rather than being lost to the environment.
• Chemical reactions that require lower temperature should be considered when the option is available.
• Where possible, chemical plants should avoid using generator to generate electricity because of the emission of carbon-monoxide.

2. CATALYSIS

The use of catalysts plays an enormous role in the enhancement of a more sustainable process for the production of chemicals. There are several benefits in using and developing catalysts for industrial chemical reactions, some significant ones being:

• They positively affect the condition needed for the chemical reaction, often decreasing the energy required by reducing the pressure and temperature.
• They facilitate the usage of alternative reactions which generally have a better atom economy therefore reduces wastage.
• They enable the possibility to precisely control the reaction pathways, hence decreasing unwanted by-products and making it easier to purify and separate the preferred products.

Example: In the production of nylon-6 (an essential polymer used to make fabrics); cyclohexanone is altered into caprolactam through the means of oxime (reacting hydroxylamine hydrogen-sulphate with ketone). This process requires the need to isomerised sulphuric acid with the reactant (caprolactam) which then gives off ammonium sulphate (wastage). With the introduction of a catalyst (zeolite), the chemical reactions are rearranged hence resulting to elimination of the subsequent wastage from sulphuric acid (University of York, 2014).

3. EFFICIENT WASTE MANAGEMENT AND RECYCLE

As much as it is practically impossible to have zero-wastage, chemical practises can imbibe the following culture below;

1. Waste Avoidance: Where possible, chemical processes that involve less or no wastage should be considered simply because it saves time, money and preserves the environment. Generally, chemical waste products are treated specially due to their hazardous tendencies to humanity and the environment (Blackstone 2015).

1. Waste Re-usage: In cases whereby it is almost impossible not to produce waste, alternative means should be devised in order to re-use the waste products created. For example, a chemical plant, that conducts a lot of combustion can re-use the carbon-monoxide (by-product) to produced methanol by the hydrogenation of the carbon-monoxide (University of York, 2014).

1. Waste-to-energy Conversion and Recycle: In certain circumstances, the energy needed to recycle the waste product maybe significant compared to the advantages of the recycled product therefore it may be considerable better to convert waste to energy. Recycle and converting waste to energy should be interchangeable. For example, the production of cotton with the use of pesticides and fertilisers could end up requiring more energy and polluting more than the production of certain artificial fibres or fabrics (University of York 2014).

1. Landfill: this is often regarded as the most cost-effective way to dispose selective chemical waste especially in countries like America and Nigeria with large open fields. With other waste management methods such as incineration and resource recovery both requiring wide investments in manpower and infrastructure, landfills have fewer cost, allowing them to stand favourably. They can also be upgraded to generate natural gas which can be potentially seen as revenue stream (Blackstone 2015).

4. SAFER SOLVENT

As part of the means to preserve the environment and to maintain the practises of a sustainable chemistry, it is preferable to conduct reactions that occur in a gaseous phase simply because they avoid the usage of solvents to bring reactants together. Examples of these processes include; the manufacture of ammonia, methanol, ethene and ethanoic. In the production of ethanoic, where possible, an alternative solvent which is not harmful should be used because the solvent readily evaporates into the atmosphere unless safety precautions are taken to contain them (University of York, 2014).

CONCLUSION

The four means of maintaining sustainability in the chemical industry as explained with example in the body of this essay would go a long way in preserving the environment and its ecosystem if kept in practise, particularly to the future generations. In addition, the need to equally emphasis and imbibe this practise in modern chemical processes is economical viable both to the chemical industries and to potential investors.

REFERENCES

Rupert Blackstone (2015). How do we achieve a sustainable lifestyle?Institution of mechanical engineers UK. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.imeche.org/knowledge/industries/energy-environment-and-sustainability/news/Sustainable-Lifestyles. [Accessed: 20 April 2015].

University of York (2014). Essential Chemical Industry online. Green chemistry. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.essentialchemicalindustry.org/processes/green-chemistry.html. [Accessed 19 April 2015].

United State Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) 2015. Green Chemistry | US EPA. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www2.epa.gov/green-chemistry. [Accessed 16 April 2015].