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Atom Efficiency in the Manufacture of Chemicals
Industry Product tonnage Kg by-products / Kg product
Oil refining 106 - 108 < 0.1
Bulk chemicals 104 - 106 1 - 5
Fine chemicals 102 - 104 5 - 50+
Pharmaceuticals 10 - 103 25 - 100+
Most chemical reactions make more waste than product!
… note the recent statement from the GSK CEO…we need morepeople willing to challenge the “accepted limits”
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Pressures on the Chemical Industry Across the Lifecycle
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IntroductionWhat is Green Chemistry?
• Green chemistry is the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances
• Discovery and application of new chemistry/technology leading to prevention/reduction of environmental, health and safety impacts at source
ReducingReducing
MaterialsEnergy
Cost
Non-renewables
Risk &Hazard
Waste
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Green Chemistry is about turning a waste into a product and a cost into a profit
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Waste is tomorrows resource
We have converted virgin resources to waste and we now need to encourage the greater use of
chemically rich waste as a resource
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Food supply chain residues
sugars
phenols
collagen
starchnatural dyes
chitosan
cellulose
pectin
hemicellulose
waxes
films
bio-adhesives
hydrogels
natural chelants
bio-solvents
chemical monomers
nanocomposites
bio-surfactants
PVC replacements
Liquid fuels
cosmetic waxes
solid fuels
hydrophobes
lignin
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• Research
• Industry collaboration
• Education, including development of teaching and promotional materials
• Networking with all chemical stakeholders
Activity Areas
The Centre’s Activities can be groups into 4 areas:
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Natural SolventsScience Leader Dr Andrew Hunt
We are interested in supercritical and liquid carbon dioxide as an extraction, fractionation and
reaction medium with projects covering areas such as the extraction of waxes from agricultural
and food waste for personal care (and other) applications, and the synthesis of flavour and aroma molecules using in-situ biocatalysis.
Funding comes from the University, METRC and industry. We have excellent supercritical fluid
extraction facilities and access to scale-up facilities.
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InorganicPetroleum Biomass
Conventional+
Neoteric(e.g. IonicLiquids)
‘Natural’ solvents
CO2 + Water
EthanolEthyl acetateEthyl lactate
Glycerol2-MeTHF
Solvents
Greener Solvents
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1110 20 30 40
100
50
75
25
100
oC
MPa
Terpenoids
Lipids
Alkaloids
Sterol monoglycosides
Phenolics
Polyphenols
Carotenoids
Lipids & Waxes
Sterols
Diterpenes
Phospholipids
O
OH OH
OH
O
Case Study 1Extraction with Super-critical CO2
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ExtractablesExtractables…….……….…Eco-waxes
Wheat strawScCO2 extraction
Wax products
Cosmetic Products
Lignocellulose
- Strawboard
- Garden Mulch
- Pulp & Paper
-Bioethanol -Electricity
Health Products
Semiochemicals
Renewable resource+CO2 extraction = EU “natural”
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Renewable MaterialsScience Leader Dr Avtar Matharu
For us this means the physical and chemical modification of natural abundant materials and especially polysaccharides. Projects include
Starbons (new carbonaceous materials derived from starch), new “bio-boards” made entirely of
green and sustainable components, novel switchable adhesives, new intumescent flame
retardants, and PVC replacements.
Funding comes from industry, EPSRC, DEFRA and TSB. The area is supported by state-of-the-art thermal analysis, infrared spectroscopy and
extrusion equipment.
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Recyclable
Materials……
Switchable adhesives for carpet tiles (InterfaceFlor)
Diverting millions of Kg pa from landfill
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Clean Synthesis and Platform Molecules
Science Leader Dr Simon Breeden
Very much our root area with interests covering the use of solid catalysts and alternative solvents to
“green” reactions.
Recently we have become especially interested in doing clean synthesis starting from molecules and
mixtures derived from biomass (eg using fermentation broths).
We have funding in this area from industry, EPSRC, METRC, and GSK.
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Microwave Chemistry
Science Leader Dr Duncan MacQuarrie
This brings together our long-standing interest in microwave-assisted chemistry with our more
recent interest in the conversion of biomass (eg forestry and agricultural wastes, food waste, etc) to
useful products. With substantial funding from ERDF, Carbon Trust, METRC and industry we are
starting major new projects on fast pyrolysis for the production of liquid fuels, high calorific value
chars and chemical intermediates.
A major part of this is the design and build of new continuous microwave processors, with the final
semi-scale prototype to be located outside the GCC.
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Advantages of MW Heating
•Rapid internal heating
•Uniform heating
•Instant control
•Acceleration of reaction rate
•Selective interaction with active groups
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Biomass
Microwave processor
Energy
ExtractedExtractedoiloil
ExtractedExtractedoiloil
Pyrolysis Pyrolysis OilOil
Pyrolysis Pyrolysis OilOil
CharCharCharChar
Wide range offeedstock
+ = Wide range ofproducts
Flexibility of Microwave Parameters
(time, temperature, power)
Low temperature
Microwave Processing of Biomass
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Microwave Processing of BiomassRape Seed Example
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Biomass PretreatmentBiomass Pretreatment
Supercritical COSupercritical CO22 extraction extractionSupercritical COSupercritical CO22 extraction extraction
FermentationFermentation
Microwave Microwave processingprocessingMicrowave Microwave processingprocessing
Ammonia fibre explosion
Ammonia fibre explosion
StarbonisationStarbonisationStarbonisationStarbonisation
Higher value products
Higher value products
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Industry
Networking
Education
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Any questions?