Green Chemistry

Also known as Sustainable or Circular Chemistry, Green Chemistry is a multidisciplinary approach that promotes the development of environmentally friendly alternatives to existing chemical processes, fostering a more sustainable and circular economy.
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Technology Life Cycle

Technology Life Cycle

Growth

Marked by a rapid increase in technology adoption and market expansion. Innovations are refined, production costs decrease, and the technology gains widespread acceptance and use.

Technology Readiness Level (TRL)

Technology Readiness Level (TRL)

Prototype Testing

Prototype is fully functional and ready for testing in industrially relevant environment.

Technology Diffusion

Technology Diffusion

Early Adopters

Embrace new technologies soon after Innovators. They often have significant influence within their social circles and help validate the practicality of innovations.

Green Chemistry

Sustainable or Circular Chemistry is an innovative approach to chemical research, development, and manufacturing that aims to design and produce chemical products and processes that are environmentally friendly, economically viable, and socially responsible. Green Chemistry seeks to minimize or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances and waste throughout the entire life cycle of a chemical product, from its synthesis to its disposal. This approach has the potential to support several industries transitioning into a circular mindset, affecting fields such as the pharmaceutical industry, the energy sector, materials science, agriculture, water treatment, and consumer products, such as cleaning products, personal care items, and cosmetics.

The principles of Green Chemistry guide the design and selection of elements and chemical processes that have minimal impact on human health and the environment. It involves the use of renewable resources, the reduction of energy consumption, the prevention of pollution, and the design of safer chemicals. By applying these principles, the goal is to mitigate the environmental and health risks associated with traditional chemical practices. Furthermore, Green Chemistry encourages collaboration among scientists, engineers, and stakeholders from academia, industry, and regulatory bodies. This multidisciplinary approach fosters innovation, knowledge sharing, and the development of sustainable solutions to complex chemical challenges.

Future Perspectives

Green Chemistry contributes to building a greener and more sustainable future by integrating environmental stewardship with technological advancements in the field of chemistry. If applied as a framework across industries, it has the power to propel a potentially regenerative economy. For that to take place, governments and regulatory bodies should establish comprehensive regulations and policies — including the assessment of environmental impact, safety, and sustainability criteria — that promote and require the principles of Green Chemistry.

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Green chemistry is the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances. Green chemistry applies across the life cycle of a chemical product, including its design, manufacture, use, and ultimate disposal.
The growing process of industrialization was a milestone for world economic evolution. Since the 1940s, social movements have revolutionized green chemistry and provided shifts in industrial positions and sustainable processes with advances in environmental impact and awareness of companies and population. Paul Anastas and John Warner, in the 1990s, postulated the 12 principles of Green Chemistry, which are based on the minimization or non-use of toxic solvents in chemical processes and analyzes, as well as, the non-generation of residues from these processes. One of the most active areas of Research and Development in Green Chemistry is the development of analytical methodologies, giving rise to the so-called Green Analytical Chemistry. The impacts of green chemistry on pharmaceutical analyzes, environmental, population, analyst and company are described in this review and they are multidimensional. Every choice and analytical attitude has consequences both in the final product and in everything that surrounds it. The future of green chemistry as well as our future and the environment is also contemplated in this work.
Learn the 12 principles of green chemistry that can make greener chemicals, processes or products. Read commentary on each principle from leading scientists.
Environmental injustices have exposed our current system of reliance on polluting and toxic chemicals and chemistries as untenable and one whose risks and burdens are disproportionately borne by those who are disadvantaged. Aiming for effective interventions to create system-wide change, green chemistry and adjacent approaches are powerful leverage points to deeply address environmental injustices by changing the very nature of the molecular (for example, chemical, material, energy) basis of our economy and our society, obviating the need to rely on procedural systems that can either serve to enable progress or reinforce the status quo. Owing to the underlying chemical nature of many environmental injustices, green chemistry can play a role in advancing environmental justice towards a more equitable future.
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