Professor Hector R RodriguezSchool of BusinessMount Ida College

Course Map – Topics Covered in Course

• Society– The Corporation and Its Stakeholders– People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals– Corporate Citizenship– The Social Responsibility of Business– The Shareholder Primacy Norm– CSR, Citizenship and Sustainability

Reporting– Responsible Investing– The Community and the Corporation– Taxation and Corporate Citizenship– Corporate Philanthropy Programs– Employees and the Corporation– Managing a Diverse Workforce

• Environment– A Balanced Look at Climate Change– Non-anthropogenic Causes of Climate

Change– Sulfates, Urban Warming and Permafrost– Conventional Energy– The Kyoto Protocol– Green Building– Green Information Technology– Transportation, Electric Vehicles and the

Environment– Geo-Engineering– Carbon Capture and Storage– Renewable Energy– Solid, Toxic and Hazardous Waste– Forests, Paper and Carbon Sinks– Life Cycle Analysis– Green Chemistry– Water Use and Management– Water Pollution

• Consider that there are some 85,000 synthetic chemicals approved for commercial use in the U.S., and in one industry alone — cosmetics and personal care — there are an estimated 12,000 chemicals in use.

Source: GreenBiz.com,“The State of Green Business,”: (2009)

Toxics in Manufacturing

– Any attempt to gather a reasonable list of chemicals to track is challenging at best.

Green Chemistry is…

• It represents a major paradigm shift that focuses on environmental protection at the design stage of product and manufacturing processes. – It is an innovative way to deal with chemicals before they become

hazards, with the goal of making chemicals and products “benign by design.”

– For example, if the chemical synthesis is not compromised, which of the two chemicals below should we use?

Source: California Green Chemistry Initiative: (2008)

Why Green Chemistry?

OR

Carcinogenic non-Carcinogenic

• Green chemistry is an opportunity to spur the next industrial revolution through human ingenuity and creativity.

• Advancing green chemistry is an opportunity to make a safer and more efficient world with less waste.

Green Chemistry Benefits

Source: California Green Chemistry Initiative: (2008)

Green Chemistry Principles

The 12 Principles of Green Chemistry

1. Prevention– It is better to prevent waste than to treat or clean up waste after

it has been created.

2. Atom Economy– Synthetic methods should be designed to maximise the

incorporation of all materials used in the process into the final product.

3. Less Hazardous Chemical Synthesis– Wherever practicable, synthetic methods should be designed to

use and generate substances that possess little or no toxicity to people or the environment.

The 12 Principles of Green Chemistry

1. Designing Safer Chemicals– Chemical products should be designed to effect their desired

function while minimising their toxicity.

2. Safer Solvents and Auxiliaries– The use of auxiliary substances (e.g., solvents or separation

agents) should be made unnecessary whenever possible and innocuous when used.

3. Design for Energy Efficiency– Energy requirements of chemical processes should be

recognised for their environmental and economic impacts and should be minimised. If possible, synthetic methods should be conducted at ambient temperature and pressure.

The 12 Principles of Green Chemistry

1. Design for Degradation– Chemical products should be designed so that at the end of

their function they break down into innocuous degradation products and do not persist in the environment.

2. Real-time Analysis for Pollution Prevention– Analytical methodologies need to be further developed to allow

for real-time, in-process monitoring and control prior to the formation of hazardous substances.

3. Inherently Safer Chemistry for Accident Prevention– Substances and the form of a substance used in a chemical

process should be chosen to minimise the potential for chemical accidents, including releases, explosions, and fires.

The 12 Principles of Green Chemistry

1. Use of Renewable Feed stocks– A raw material or feedstock should be renewable rather than

depleting whenever technically and economically practicable.

2. Reduce Derivatives– Unnecessary derivatization (use of blocking groups, protection/

de-protection, and temporary modification of physical/chemical processes) should be minimised or avoided if possible, because such steps require additional reagents and can generate waste.

3. Catalysis– Catalytic reagents (as selective as possible) are superior to

stoichiometric reagents.

How it Fits in the Sustainability Framework

Green chemistry relies upon lifecycle thinking to bring their concepts to fruition; it serves to achieve the ultimate goal of a

sustainable economy and society.

Life Cycle Thinking

Green Chemistry at Work

Green Chemistry at Work

Conclusion

• The use of toxic chemicals in society is significant• Green Chemistry aims to reduce or eliminate the

generation of toxics in manufacturing processes– It is a subset of Life Cycle Thinking– It is an innovative way to deal with chemicals before they become

hazards, with the goal of making chemicals and products “benign by design.”