CHAPTER TWELVE – Environmentally Benign Chemistry and Species

This chapter provides an overview of the recent advances in synthesizing “green” reactions and species. Selection of environmentally benign chemical reactions, raw materials, solvents, and products is an important element in pollution prevention. This leads to the problem of synthesizing environmentally acceptable reactions “EARs.” In order to generate a candidate EAR, the potential raw materials and by-products, satisfaction of stoichiometric conditions, assurance of thermodynamic feasibility, and fulfillment of environmental requirements must be considered. These issues can be addressed by employing an optimization formulation to identify an overall reaction that yields the desired product at maximum economic potential while satisfying stoichiometric, thermodynamic, and environmental constraints. In many cases, it is possible to replace environmentally hazardous chemicals with more benign species without compromising the technical and economic performance of the process. Two main frameworks can been employed to synthesize alternative materials: knowledge base and computer-aided optimization. Process synthesis techniques can also be integrated with product synthesis tools for the synthesis of environmentally benign species.