THIRD PARTIES' ARTICLES
GCN also is promoting
awareness of green chemistry solutions along the
chemical supply chain. GCN operates at the international
level and has established links with several U.S.
universities to promote the development of green
chemistry via the World-Wide Universities Network
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Oct 27, 2004
Innovation
‘Greener’ Manufacturing of Tire
Rubber
By Alex Scott in Venice
Researchers
from Milan Polytechnic (Milan, Italy) say
they are working with tire makers including
Pirelli and Bridgestone (Nashville, TN)
to developing a continuous “green”
manufacturing route for the production of
rubber compounds for tires, CW has learned.
Such a process would replace conventional
batch production of rubber compounds, and
would generate “significant savings”
at commercial scale, says Attilio Citterio,
a professor of materials and chemistry at
Milan. Citterio disclosed the project details
to CW at a meeting at Venice hosted by research
group the Interuniversity consortium of
chemistry for the environment (INCA; Marghera,
Italy).
Pirelli is testing the continuous systems
at pilot scale, following work undertaken
at Milan Polytechnic, Citterio says. Converting
from batch to a continuous process poses
difficulties, as it can change the characteristics
of the compounds, he says. One such characteristic
is viscosity, which may change when the
process is modified, he adds. “There
are more than 20 constituents in rubber
compounds for tires and so it is highly
complex,’’ Citterio says.
The researchers also are working to reduce
the content of hazardous materials and cut
the number of processing steps required
to manufacture the rubber compound, Citterio
says. They are developing novel rubber compounds
with reduced content of hazardous materials,
such as heavy metals, by replacing them
with hazardous substances such as glycerine.
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Oct 06,
2004
Research Chemists Invite Industry Collaboration
By Alex Scott in Venice
The International Union
of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC; Research
Triangle Park, NC), a global association
of research chemists, is looking to collaborate
more closely with the chemical industry
to promote “green chemistry,”
CW has learned. IUPAC defines green chemistry
as “the invention, design, and application
of chemical products and processes to reduce
or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous
substances.” IUPAC says it is supported
by 45 national organizations, most of which
have thousands of individual members.
“We need a level of cooperation,”
says David Black, professor of chemistry
at the University of New South Wales (Sydney)
School of Chemistry and secretary general
of IUPAC. “Industry needs to know
what academia is capable of in green chemistry,”
and academia “needs to know where
the commercial problems are,” Black
says.
Members of IUPAC’s management committee
detailed their industry collaboration plans
to CW at an international green chemistry
conference held in Venice, Italy in September
by the interuniversity national consortium
of chemistry for the environment (INCA;
Venice). IUPAC has been promoting the use
of green chemistry among its members, and
says it sees opportunities to take green
chemistry to a new level by working more
closely with industry.
a key role. Industry and academia in Italy
have adopted a highly integrated approach
to green chemistry, Black says. “Italy
is a snapshot of what could be achieved
on a world scale,” he says. INCA should
be able to play a key role in applying the
Italian system across the European Union
(EU), he adds. INCA plans to meet with Cefic
in coming months to discuss how industry
and academia could work together in Europe.
Widespread adoption of green chemistry should
promote a better public image of chemistry,
encourage more people to take up chemistry
as a profession, as well as reduce waste,
energy use, and pollution, IUPAC says. “The
challenge is that of public appreciation
of chemistry, and in this context green
chemistry is very important,” says
IUPAC president Leiv Sydnes. “We also
need to educate politicians about [the possibilities
for] green chemistry.” OECD’s
sustainable chemistry committee gave its
endorsement in 2002 to IUPAC plans to promote
green chemistry education, including in
schools.
Adoption of green chemistry is “moving
rapidly” in the research community
as well as in industry, Black says. About
10% of academics operate according to the
principles of green chemistry, and a further
10% may have adopted green chemistry unwittingly
just by developing cleaner, more efficient
processes, he says.
Top-tier chemical companies are adopting
green-chemistry processes on a global basis,
but for smaller companies the picture is
less clear, says Johan A. Thoen, senior
scientist/R&D at Dow Chemical. Thoen
welcomes the inclusive approach to industry
taken by IUPAC. “Industry can’t
do it [green chemistry] alone,” he
says. Leading chemical companies including
Dow have recently slashed their R&D
budgets. “We need more collaborations,”
to compensate for the R&D belt tightening,
he says.
Many chemical companies are adopting green
chemistry to improve environmental performance
and public image, but they also see green
chemistry as essential to their long-term
survival, Thoen says. “There has to
be a social and environmental benefit from
chemistry,” he says. “Without
these you are not going to be successful
as a chemical company.”
Green chemistry, despite its benefits, often
requires a regulatory push, says Michael
Warhurst, senior EU toxics program officer
at environmental group WWF (Brussels). Companies
often use increased regulation of hazardous
waste to justify introducing cleaner processes,
he says. “Regulation is always part
of the consideration when green chemistry
is adopted,” Warhurst says. That is
why the EU’s proposed Registration,
Evaluation, and Assessment of Chemicals
program will play an important role in the
adoption of green chemistry in Europe, he
says. “We need a regulatory environment
to encourage it,” he adds.
Asian Concerns. Interest in green chemistry
across industry is increasing, but adoption
may not be straightforward, says Wolfgang
Hoelderich, professor of chemistry at research
institute RWTH, (Aachen, Germany). Many
low-cost chemical producers in developing
countries in Asia have no interest in green
chemistry because they are not under as
much legislative pressure to introduce proprietary
clean technology as chemical companies in
developed countries, Hoelderich says. Many
companies in developed countries are also
hesitant about spending on green chemistry
R&D because of concerns that they may
not be able to recoup their investment,
particularly if low-cost Asian producers
copy their processes, he says. Nevertheless,
there are extensive opportunities for companies
to cut environmental and financial costs
of existing processes by reducing the number
of processing steps via development of catalytic
synthesis steps, he says. BASF’s recently
developed process for manufacturing the
fine chemical intermediate citral using
a novel catalytic system is a good example,
he adds.
Biocatalysis also has a place in green chemistry,
but it is restricted mostly to small-scale
synthesis used for fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals,
Hoelderich says. “Enzymes and biocatalysts
can generate huge amounts of waste by-product,
and this is a problem when you are talking
about large-scale commercial production
of thousands of m.t./year of product,”
he says.
Besides INCA and IUPAC, other organizations
such as the Green Chemistry Network (GCN;
York, U.K.), are steadily developing links
between industry and academia. GCN says
it aims to assist chemical companies and
chemists by sharing best practices, promoting
green technology transfer, and providing
data on green practices. GCN also is promoting
awareness of green chemistry solutions along
the chemical supply chain. GCN operates
at the international level and has established
links with several U.S. universities to
promote the development of green chemistry
via the World-Wide Universities Network.
Source: Chemicalweek
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Sep
22, 2004
Pharmaceuticals & Fine Chemicals
Researchers Develop
‘Green’ Route to Indoles
By Alex Scott in Venice
Researchers at the University of Bologna
(Italy) say they have identified a route
to produce indoles, a family of key fine
chemical intermediates, that is cheaper
and less environmentally damaging than traditional
processes. Indoles are used widely in the
production of pharmaceuticals, herbicides,
fungicides, and dyes.
The technology converts a mixture of alcohols
and anilines in the vapor phase process
in the presence of a zirconium oxide catalyst
supported on silicon dioxide catalyst, the
researchers say. The reaction, which proceeds
via an alpha-amino carbonyl intermediate,
does not result in the generation of by-product
amines, they say. Steam is used as the gas
carrier, and can be readily condensed, reducing
potential waste treatment costs, they add.
The work was carried out in conjunction
with pharmaceutical intermediates manufacturer
Chemi (Cinisello Balsamo, Italy). It was
presented earlier this month to a meeting
in Venice, Italy hosted by the interuniversity
consortium of chemistry for the environment
(INCA; Marghera, Italy), a research body.
The process presents “significant
economic and environmental advantages over
current technology, especially for the synthesis
of alkylindoles,” says Silvia Franceschini,
a researcher on the project. Chemi has patented
the technology. Some undisclosed international
drugs manufacturers have already expressed
a “significant interest in it,”
however, Franceschini says.
Existing technology generates indoles from
the biphenyl-indole fraction obtained in
the distillation of coal tar. “This
source of production no longer seems to
be able to cover increasing market demand,”
the researchers say. Alternative technologies,
including liquid-phase syntheses, have many
drawbacks, including large volumes of by-product
aromatic amines that have to be recycled,
they say.
Source: Chemicalweek
magazine
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