Green Chemistry and Decarbonization: Sustainable Chemical Industry

Green Chemistry and Decarbonization

1.      Green Chemistry

Green Chemistry is a revolutionary approach for development of products that aims to reduce any kind of waste generation during the manufacturing. For a product or a technology to be considered green, following three aspects must be satisfied –

·         Environmentally benign than the existing process.

·         Economically viable than the existing alternatives.

·         Functionally equivalent to the already known products/technologies.

It is seen that today only 10% of the chemical processes known are environmentally benign and around 25% can be made green with ease. The remaining 65% needs to be developed. Newer methodologies, process design, technology needs a further development.

In 1998, Prof. John Warner and Paul Anastas published the seminal book "Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice", that gave a precise definition to Green Chemistry and enumerated the 12 fundamental principles of green chemistry to science. 

Figure 1: 12 Principles of Green Chemistry (Pradhan, Carlos and Quintero, 2019)

 

The research and development in this field is pushing the chemical industries to review their production and thus the business strategies. As per one of the reports by Prof. G. D. Yadav, chemical industry has the potential to grow to US $100 Million in which speciality and knowledge chemicals would contribute 16.4% and 27% respectively, thus applying green chemistry principles to the manufacturing process technology would create ample scope for chemical industries, bio-based industries, etc. (Yadav, 2009). Prof. G. D. Yadav has given a path for the chemical industries to sustain post complete consumption of fossil fuels which is possible only after the application of green chemistry and engineering, sustainability and carbon management.

Figure 2: Sustainable Development and responsible care path for chemical industries (Yadav, 2009). 

Zhao, (2018) in an interview reports that chemistry and materials science are closely connected. It is an important component of green chemistry to synthesize environmentally friendly high-performance materials using green raw materials and green technologies. Many aspects of the materials industry may cause pollution. First, many materials production processes cause pollution. Second, some commonly produced and widely used materials themselves contain harmful substances and are toxic to human health. Third, some materials may turn into pollutants during their after-use disposal. Both the materials production processes and materials themselves should be green.

Waste to Energy market size is predicted to reach USD 35.94 billion by 2030.  The figure 3 below shows the green chemistry market size that has increased from 2105 to 2020. Also the market demand of green solvents is expected to rise to 5.9 billion USD by 2030 (Statsta, 2019). 

 

2.   Decarbonization 

D       To bring down the adverse effects of climate change, it is necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from every sector of the global economy, mainly chemical industries. It was observed that the industry sector contributed to 33% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2014.  

To bring down the adverse effects of climate change, it is necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from every sector of the global economy, mainly chemical industries. It was observed that the industry sector contributed to 33% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2014.

Various researchers and chemical industries are adopting technologies that help reducing CO₂ emissions. The industries that emits largest amount of CO₂ are iron and steel industry; and paper and pulp industry. There are six practices that an industry should follow for energy efficient system design – (Rissman et al., 2020).

1)      Optimization of Core Process System

• Applying utilities (electricity, heating, cooling, physical force) at appropriate quality

• Maximum energy recovery opportunities

• Switching to fundamentally more efficient processes that achieve the same end—for example, compressed air systems can be replaced with fans, blowers, vacuum pumps, brushes, etc.

2)      Design an efficient distribution system

• Minimize losses in distribution systems through appropriate sizing, reducing distances, insulating pipes, avoiding 90° bends of pipes and ducts, etc.

• Manage leaks and uncontrolled use of steam, hot and chilled water, and compressed air

3)      Select correctly-sized equipment that provides the desired utility.

• Right-size equipment to allow for operation around optimal load

• Balance refrigeration system and chiller capacities to needs

4)      Install efficient equipment

• Select pumps and fans that provide sufficient flow while minimizing energy use

• Install best available boiler technologies

• Utilize highly efficient, controllable motors

5)      Control the system for efficient operation

• Avoid idling of equipment

• Manage/reduce variability in the process and product flow

6)      Plan for efficient equipment upgrades

• Time equipment upgrades to correspond with system redesign

• Budget for decommissioning of obsolete facilities

 

Deloitte in its report “The 2030 Decarbonization Challenge: The path to the future of energy” explains the pathways a chemical industry should adopt to curb the greenhouse gas emissions by 60% (Deloitte, 2020) –

·         Improving resource and energy efficiency to produce chemicals and materials.

·         Using sustainable waste or bio-based feedstocks, such as plant or animal fats, sugar, lignin, hemicellulose, starch, corn or algae.

·         Avoiding production of virgin materials, like polymers, rubbers, batteries, packaging materials, solvents, heat transfer fluids, lubricants, etc.

McKinsey & Co. in the year 2018, in the report “Decarbonization of industrial sectors: the next frontier” reported some methods that industry should take into consideration (Pee et al., 2018)-

·         Recycling of used plastics (27% less CO₂ emissions than the virgin plastic production).

·         Switching to biofuels fuels for heat production (zero-carbon hydrogen or biomass).

·         Electrochemical processes to synthesize monomers (CO₂ to valuable chemicals via electrolysis).

·         Using biogas or hydrogen instead of gaseous fuels from the refinery.

      India has committed to reduce carbon emissions by 33-35% by 2030. In support of this, Indian Oil is working to raise its grid-connected renewable energy capacity from 188 MW (wind-168 MW, solar-20 MW) currently to 260 MW by 2020. It is also putting up 2G-ethanol and waste-to-energy projects. Indian Oil has committed to reduce its carbon footprint by 18% by 2021. Bharat Petroleum's Mumbai Refinery has achieved the distinction of being the first indian refinery to be rated under GreenCo Rating Certificate for developing clean automotive fuels, heat recovery systems, minimum emissions from the refinery, recirculation of water and 42844 kilolitres rainwater harvesting. For Hindustan Petroleum's biogas project in Badaun, Uttar Pradesh, Praj Industries, Pune is going to setup a biogas plant that would help reduce 15000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually. 

       

         References:

Deloitte (2020) ‘The 2030 decarbonization challenge The path to the future of energy Contents’. <https://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/energy-and-resources/articles/the-2030-decarbonization-challenge.html.> (accessed 22.04.21).

Pee, A. de, Pinner, D., Roelofsen, O., Somers, K., Speelman, E. and Witteveen, M. (2018) ‘Decarbonization of industrial sectors: the next frontier’, McKinsey & Company, (June), p. 68. <https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Business Functions/Sustainability and Resource Productivity/Our Insights/How industry can move toward a low carbon future/Decarbonization-of-industrial-sectors-The-next-frontier.ashx.> (accessed 22.04.21).

Pradhan, S. R., Carlos, J. and Quintero, C. (2019) ‘Designing Microflowreactors for Photocatalysis Using Sonochemistry: A Systematic Review Article’, Molecules, 24, 3315. doi:10.3390/molecules24183315.

Rissman, J., Bataille, C., Masanet, E., Aden, N., Morrow, W. R., Zhou, N., Elliott, N.,et al.  (2020) ‘Technologies and policies to decarbonize global industry: Review and assessment of mitigation drivers through 2070’, Applied Energy. Elsevier, 266(March), p. 114848. doi: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.114848.

Statista (2016) Forecasted market size of the green chemistry industry worldwide from 2015 to 2020. <https://www.statista.com/statistics/661806/global-green-chemistry-market-size-forecast/.> (accessed 21.04.21).

Statista (2019) Market value of green solvents worldwide in 2018 and 2023. <https://www.statista.com/statistics/1108192/global-market-size-green-solvents/.> (accessed 21.04.21).

Yadav, G. D. (2009) ‘Is there any Beauty, Charm and Challenge Left in Chemical Engineering?’, Indian Chemical Engineer, 51(1), pp. 57–84. doi: 10.1080/00194500903122674.

Zhao, W. (2018) ‘Make the chemical industry clean with green chemistry: An interview with Buxing Han’, National Science Review, 5(6), pp. 953–956. doi: 10.1093/nsr/nwy045.

 

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