GREEN CHEMISTRY

BY: JEREMY GIDEON JAYACHANDRAN

12B

-Global Warming and Climate

Change
-Carbon Neutrality and Carbon
Footprint
-Reducing Hazards and Pollution in the Chemical Industry
-Increasing Efficiency in the
Chemical Industry

Difference between An-

thropogenic and Natural

Climate Changes

Global Warming and Climate Change

Anthropogenic: Climatic
changes due to human activities such as deforestation,
cattle ranching and burning
of fossil fuels.

Natural: Due to natural processes occurring on the Earth

1-What is the greenhouse effect?

When particular gases (Greenhouse gases such as Carbon Dioxide, Methane and Water Vapour) allow light from the sun to pass through, but retain the heat radiated
back from the Earths surface, and partially reradiate the heat (Infrared Radiation)

2-Relative Greenhouse Factor

The comparison of the effect that different gases have in absorbing infrared radiation
compared with carbon dioxide. FACT: OTHER GREENHOUSE GASES HAVE EVEN
GREATER EFFECTS THAN CARBON DIOXIDE.
3-Global Warming Potential (GWP)
Is a measure of how much a given mass of a greenhouse gas is estimated to contribute to global warming. There are two factors that determine this:

The relative greenhouse factor

The half-life of the gas in the atmosphere

The effect of Air Traffic

When jet aircrafts fly they
leave behind a trail of frozen
water vapour (which is a
greenhouse gas), which contribute to long term effects
in the Earths climate. These
trails that they leave behind
are called CONTRAILS
(Condensation Trails). Furthermore, the jet engines
could produce nitrogen oxides which also destroy the
ozone layer.

Carbon Neutrality and Carbon Footprint

A look at the different factors involved, such as: What is Carbon Neutrality? What is Carbon Footprint? CFCs/HCFCs and Carbon Offsetting
Carbon Neutrality

A fuel is considered carbon neutral

only if the total amounts of carbon
dioxide taken in or absorbed during
the formation of the fuel or raw material, is equal to the carbon dioxide
released when the fuel or raw material is manufactured and burned.
The carbon dioxide intake should
cancel out the carbon dioxide output.
Common misconceptions: Biofuels
are not carbon neutral, as there are
stages in between production and
usage which use energy that releases carbon dioxide. Even burning
Hydrogen is not carbon neutral, as
producing the Hydrogen also requires energy which releases carbon
dioxide. In both these scenarios the
carbon dioxide intake and carbon
dioxide output do not cancel each
other out.

Interesting fact: Developing countries

like India and China, have lots of power
stations and release a lot of carbon dioxide, but their Carbon footprint per head
is very less because of their large populations.

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT (LCA)

CFCS and HCFCs

Carbon Footprint

Measurement of the impact that

human activities have on the
levels of greenhouse gases produced, and this is measured in
units of mass of carbon dioxide.
A good method for calculating carbon footprint is to use a Life
Cycle Assessment (LCA)

CFCs and HCFCs are not naturally

occurring chemicals in our atmosphere. One very common effect that
CFCs have on our atmosphere is its
ability to persist in the upper atmosphere and destroy the protective
ozone layer, which inevitably leads
to increased amounts of UV radiation reaching the Earths surface.

CFCs and HCFCs are also powerful

greenhouse gases they have a high
relative greenhouse factor and
GWP.

Carbon Offsetting

Could involve paying for the

planting of new trees which
could compensate for your
carbon footprint or construction of renewable
sources of energy in developing countries so that their
carbon dioxide emissions are
cut down, indirectly reducing your own carbon footprint. It is basically compensating for your own carbon
dioxide emissions indirectly it is the process of attaining carbon neutrality.

Disposing of waste water

Reducing hazards and pollution in the chemical industry

not carried out properlyfor example if the temperature in the
incinerator is too low - dioxins

Disposing of Solid Waste

Recycling of tires - This kind of recycling produces rubber crumbs

which have a variety of purposes
such as: carpet underlay, safe playground surfaces and material to
prevent noise pollution.

could be formed.

Landfills Landfills are large areas

of land in which garbage is kept or
buried. Bacteria is an important
part of particular landfill sites, as
the bacteria break down the waste

If water contains pollutants, it

cannot be legally discharged
into streams or rivers. Each
country will have a specific authority which monitors the quality of water.

Industries have to pay for each

liter of water that they use,
therefore it is economical for
industries to develop processes
that will enable them to reuse
water whenever and wherever
possible. Water that is discharged from industries is usually stored in lakes temporarily
and then treated to remove
waste materials. One way in
which harmful substances are
removed is through precipitation, wherein the harmful substances are precipitated then
separated using methods such
as settling or filtration.

materials, producing methane gas.

Recycling Aluminum - Causes a re-

Now you might be wondering,

duction in the amount of alumi-

what good is a landfill site if it is

num that has to be extracted from

producing a greenhouse gas? The

its ore Aluminum Oxide (Bauxite)

answer is the use of this methane

by electrolysis. This not only re-

as a fuel, so that it doesn't escape

duces the levels of electricity used,

into the atmosphere.

Disposal of waste water

but it also reduces the amount of

PFC (perfluorocarbon) gases that
are emitted. These gases are 900
times more dangerous as greenhouse gases in comparison to carbon dioxide.

Incineration - Incineration in other

words means combustion. Though
incineration produces carbon dioxide, the up side is that the energy
given out can be used in energyrecovery systems. If incineration is

Disposing of waste gases

One of the most common industrial waste gases is sulfur dioxide,
which is also a greenhouse gas, and is a gas that can cause acid
rain. Using limestone, acidic gases can be removed from flue
gases, before being released back into the atmosphere:
2CaCO3(S) + 2SO2(g) + O2(g)
2CaSO4(s) + 2CO2(g)
This does produce Carbon Dioxide, and one of the ways to reduce carbon dioxide levels is by carbon capture. Carbon capture is a process in
which the Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere is liquefied and pumped
into old gas wells. Alternatively, it could be stored under pressure on
the sea bed.

Atom Economy
Atom economy as an idea was first
developed by Mr. Barry Trost , in the
USA. Atom economy is nothing but
the (mass of atoms in desired products/mass of atoms in reactants) x
100%
We use relative atomic masses in
calculations regarding atom economy.

Increasing efficiency in the chemical industry

A look into the development of new catalysts and atom economy
Development of new catalysts
A catalyst is a substance that can speed up the rate of a reaction without undergoing any
changes. It provides an alternative route with a lower activation energy.
Catalysts are used in various industries to speed up particular manufacturing processes. If it is
taking part in an equilibrium reaction, it does not increase the yield, but produces the same
yield quicker.
Catalysts allow reactions to take place at lower temperatures, thus saving energy, which in
turn saves money.

Bibliography
Almost all information was supplied from the Pearson Edexcel AS Chemistry Students Book.
Pictures were obtained from Google, but links of where pictures where taken from are as follows.
Bibliography
http://www.chemicals-technology.com/features/feature124231/feature124231-2.html
http://www.afandpa.org/issues/carbon-neutrality-of-biomass
https://promo.gelifesciences.com/gl/BP/UP_art4.html#.VshGZfl97IU
http://greenstoneagency.com/blog/greenstone-media-has-offset-carbon-emissions/
http://www.howitworksdaily.com/why-must-fridges-be-properly-disposed-of/
http://www.pollutionissues.com/Ve-Z/Wastewater-Treatment.html
https://www.rmit.edu.au/study-with-us/science/chemistry/