What is Green Chemistry ?

 Green chemistry can also be described as

 Sustainable chemistry.
 Chemistry that is begin by design.
 Pollution prevention at the molecular level.
 Focus on processes and products that reduce or eliminate the use of
polluting substances

{ Any synthesis, whether performed in teaching, laboratories or

industries should create none or minimum by-products which pollute
the atmosphere}

The Benefits of Green Chemistry

• Economical

• Energy efficient

• Lowers cost of production and regulation

• Less wastes

• Fewer accidents

• Safer products

• Healthier workplaces and communities

• Protects human health and the environment

WHY DO WE NEED GREEN

CHEMISTRY?
•Chemistry is undeniably a very prominent part of our daily lives.

• Chemical developments bring new environmental problems and harmful

unexpected side effects, which result in the need for ‘greener’ chemical
products. Eg. DDT.

• Green chemistry looks at pollution prevention on the molecular scale It is

an extremely important area of Chemistry due to the importance of
Chemistry in our world today and the implications it can show on our
environment.

• The Green Chemistry program supports the invention of more

environmentally friendly chemical processes which reduce or even
eliminate the generation of hazardous substances.

10 principles of green chemistry

1. Prevention. It is better to prevent waste than to treat or clean up waste
after it is formed.

2. Atom Economy.Synthetic methods should be designed to maximize the

incorporation of all materials used in the process into the final product.

3. Less Hazardous Chemical Synthesis. Whenever practicable, synthetic

methodologies should be designed to use and generate substances that
possess little or no toxicity to human health and the environment.

4. Designing Safer Chemicals. Chemical products should be designed to

preserve efficacy of the function while reducing toxicity.

5. Safer Solvents and Auxiliaries. The use of auxiliary substances (solvents,

separation agents, etc.) should be made unnecessary whenever possible
and, when used, innocuous(harmless) .

6. Design for Energy Efficiency. Energy requirements should be

recognized for their environmental and economic impacts and should be
minimized. Synthetic methods should be conducted at ambient
temperature and pressure.

7. Use of Renewable Feedstocks. A raw material or feedstock should be

renewable rather than depleting whenever technically and economically
practical. 6 Green Chemistry- Ramesh - GEC Kozhikode

8. Reduce Derivatives. Unnecessary derivatization (blocking group,

protection/deprotection, temporary modification of physical/chemical
processes) should be avoided whenever possible .

9. Catalysis. Catalytic reagents (as selective as possible) are superior to

stoichiometric reagents.

10. Design for Degradation. Chemical products should be designed so that

at the end of their function they do not persist in the environment and
instead break down into innocuous degradation products. 7 Green
Chemistry- Ramesh - GEC Kozhikode

A Fuel for the Future – bio diesel

Part 1: Making Biodiesel
Biodiesel is an alternative fuel that is made from vegetable and animal
oils. It can be used directly in diesel vehicles or blended with traditional
petroleum diesel. You will discover during this lab how easy it is to make
and store biodiesel. The chemical reaction to produce biodiesel is as
follows:
Materials:

• lab balance (if using NaOH or KOH base in solid form)

• 2 × 250 mL Erlenmeyer flasks and stoppers

• 100 mL graduated cylinder

• 50 mL graduated cylinder

• disposable pipettes or a turkey baster

• thermometer

• warm water bath (40–60 °C)

• 100 mL oil (a different oil for each group is best; possible oils are canola,
olive, safflower, lard (warmed to liquid), strained deep fryer oil, grape
seed, flaxseed, and sesame. Avoid nut oils because of potential allergies.)

• 20 mL methanol Cautionary note: Flammable, dangerous fire risk, toxic

by ingestion

• ONE of the following base solutions or solid base crystals: 15 mL of 1.0

mol/L NaOH(aq), 15 mL of 1.0 mol/L KOH(aq), 0.6 g of NaOH(s), 0.9 g of
KOH(s) Cautionary note: NaOH and KOH solutions and solids are
corrosive

• Safety goggles, gloves, and aprons

Safety:
• You must wear goggles, gloves, and an apron.

• Methanol is flammable and poisonous. Dispose of excess methanol by

allowing it to evaporate in a fume hood, or as directed by your teacher.

• The finished product should be stored in a sealed container and away

from heat sources
Procedure:

Note: Biodiesel is made using three main components: oil, alcohol, and a
base catalyst. This procedure provides a variety of alternative materials
that you could use to produce the biodiesel. Your teacher will direct you to
which materials you will be using.

Making Biodiesel:

1. Measure out 100 mL of oil using a graduated cylinder, and pour the oil
into one of the Erlenmeyer flasks.

2. Record observations of colour, viscosity, clarity, and other aspects of the

appearance of the starting material (oil).

3. Check that the temperature of the water bath is between 40 °C and 65

°C. Place the Erlenmeyer flask containing the oil sample into a water bath
set up by your teacher.

4. While your oil is warming, measure out 20 mL of methanol using a 50

mL graduated cylinder and pour it into a second Erlenmeyer flask.

5. To the Erlenmeyer flask containing the methanol, add ONE of the

following: 15 mL of 1.0 mol/L NaOH(aq) solution, 15 mL of KOH(aq)
solution, 0.6 g of NaOH(s), or 0.9 g of KOH(s). Swirl your mixture of
methanol and base gently to mix. This mixture is called methoxide

. • If using a solid base, the mixture should be swirled or stirred until the
solid base dissolves completely.

• To prevent evaporation, this mixture should be stoppered until it is

ready to be added to the oil.

6. Pour the methoxide mixture into the warm oil in the Erlenmeyer flask.

7. Stir, swirl, or stopper and gently shake the mixture for several minutes.
The mixture will become cloudy and turn a milky colour. A stopper or
aluminum foil can be used on the flask to control fumes.
 8. If the reaction is successful, you should start seeing two layers
developing inside the flask. The heavier glycerin will start to settle to the
bottom soon after you stop mixing the reactants. The biodiesel will be in
the upper layer. The biodiesel varies in colour depending on the oil used.
This will take at least an hour, but longer is better. The mixture should sit
overnight to completely react Collecting Biodiesel (Best completed the next

day):

9. Use a disposable pipette or a turkey

baster to carefully remove the top layer,
containing the biodiesel, from the
Erlenmeyer flask and move it to a clean
graduated cylinder.

10. Record the volume of the biodiesel

transferred from the Erlenmeyer flask in
Table 1 on page 6.

11. Record observations of colour,

viscosity, clarity, and other aspects of the
appearance of the starting material (oil)
and the product (biodiesel) collected in
Table 2 on page 6.
12. Place the biodiesel into an appropriately labelled container. Ensure
that the contents of the container are identified, and add an appropriate
WHMIS label, your name, and today’s date.

Note: This is crude biodiesel and is NOT of a high enough quality to put
directly into a vehicle. In industrial processes, it must go through a process
called “washing” to remove excess glycerin, base, and alcohol. Burning the
Biodiesel (Your teacher may demonstrate this step):

13. Biodiesel can be safely used in spirit burners. Pour some of your
biodiesel into a spirit burner. Once the biodiesel has soaked up the wick,
light the wick of the spirit burner. If the biodiesel does not soak up the
wick, use the pipette to place a few drops on the wick. Record your
observations in Table 3 on page 6.

14. Try burning the unreacted oil and the methanol in other spirit
burners. For each different fuel tested, record your observations in Table 3
on page 6.

15. Store the remainder of the biodiesel in an appropriate container

labelled with your name. This may be used for Extension A of this project.

Part 2: Does Biodiesel Work in the Cold?

Diesel engines differ from combustion engines in that they are lubricated
by the fuel combusted, not by oil added to the engine. A second difference
is that a diesel engine starts and stops with fuel in the system. A challenge
for the designers of diesel engines is the change in the properties of diesel
fuel that occurs at lower temperatures: it becomes a thick and viscous gel.
This property of diesel is of particular concern in Alberta where
temperatures during winter can be extremely low. The viscosity of liquids
can easily be compared using a 100 mL burette and a stopwatch. By
measuring the time required for 100 mL of your fuel to flow from the
stopcock of the burette, you can determine the viscosity of fuels. Another
means of determining viscosity, used commonly in the fuel industry, is to
measure the fuel’s cloud point (the temperature at which small, solid
crystals first appear as the fuel is cooled). Determining a fuel’s cloud point
is important because gelled or crystallized fuel will prevent the proper
operation of a diesel engine. Analysis: 3.1 You are given the task of
developing a diesel-fuel that must contain some biodiesel and that must be
acceptable for use in Alberta. Describe an experiment you would perform
in order to • determine the proportion of biodiesel/petrochemical diesel
that would be most acceptable for use in cold Alberta temperatures. • state
the manipulated, responding, and controlled variables for your experiment

Part 3: A Risk–Benefit Analysis

Our society is dependent on petroleum products for heat, electricity, and
transportation. Unfortunately, petroleum is a limited and non-renewable
resource. In addition, the supply of petroleum products is not always
reliable, resulting in fluctuating fuel prices. Researchers are searching for
ways to supplement and/or replace petroleum fuels, and consumers are
looking for cheaper alternatives. Biodiesel is a fuel that has been proposed
as either an alternative or as a means to supplement petroleum-diesel or
gasoline

. Complete a risk–benefit analysis to answer the following question: Should

the production and sale of biodiesel be promoted in Canada? Use the
Internet and other text sources as well as information you collected,
analyzed, and evaluated while doing this project to help you formulate
your opinion.

In preparing your analysis, consider a variety of issues including

the following: reliability, safety, economic impact, environmental
impact, accessibility of the resource, production potential, long-
term viability as a resource, and other relevant issues.
Supporting statements should be provided for all opinions and
evaluations made..
 BIO-PETROL
Introduction
Measures to be implemented to resolve the problem of sewage sludge that
contain a high degree of organic matter could primarily aim at recycling it
through a thermo chemical pyrolysis process in order to recover
hydrocarbons that make up the structure of sewage sludge. Pyrolysis of
sewage sludge produces oil, gas and char products. The pyrolysis oils have
also been shown to contain valuable chemicals in significant concentrations
and hence may have the potential to be used as chemical feedstock. The
production of a liquid product increases the ease of handling, storage and
transport.

The technology, improved by BioPetrol Ltd. (patent pending) is capable of

processing carbon wastes, other than sewage sludge, including agri-wastes,
bagasse, pulp and paper residues, tannery sludge and other end-of-life
products such as plastics, tires and the organics in municipal solid
waste.The process of low temperature thermochemical conversion of
municipal sewage sludge to oil is a new technology in developed countries.
The amount of investment is still less than the amount invested in the
sewage sludge incineration process, and the operational economy of the
process is obviously superior to incineration.

The BioPetrol, Ltd. integrated thermochemical process (patent pending)

recovers about 1,100,000 Kcal from each 283 kg of sewage sludge 90%
D.S. after the thermal evaporating of 717kg water from each dewatered
ton (1,000 kg) of sewage sludge 26% D.S. The BioPetrol process begins
with sewage sludge at 90% D.S. Sewage sludge drying equipment is used
commonly for the evaporative removal of interstitial water from the
sludge. Numerous drying technologies exist on the market.
Market Analysis and Strategy
Three potential products/services:

1. Disposal of Sewage Sludge – Disposal of sewage sludge comprises over

30% of wastewater treatment plants’ budget. Customers of this service
are local communities. They are willing to pay top dollar for the
disposal of their sludge. For example: Holland $50-$90 per ton, U.S.,
Canada and Australia, up to $150 per ton. The US produces 25 million
tons of sludge annually (2001)
2. . Synthetic Crude Oil – Excess crude oil, beyond what is being
recirculated to run equipment A+B is about 30 kg per 1 ton sewage
sludge 90% D.S. Oil energy = 8,900 Kcal/kg same as diesel oil used in
heavy industry. There are references in professional literature to
numerous valuable chemicals in significant concentration that are
present in pyrolysis oils. BioPetrol Ltd has on board, as a shareholder,
an internationally renowned scientist-academician to address this
issue.
3. Selling the Technology - With the completion of the development of
the process and equipment for its operation, BioPetrol. Ltd. will have
the technology to sell to world markets. Potential markets are water
authorities, municipalities, wastewater treatment plants,
entrepreneurs, sewage sludge disposal contractors, sludge drying
operators. BioPetrol, ltd. has been awarded a grant of $300,000 for a
period of 2 years by Israel’s Office of the Chief Scientist to conduct
advanced R&D. The company has concluded and proved the viability
of the process and is now on the verge of constructing a demonstration
pilot for a continuous process. BioPetrol is seeking an investment of
US$400,000 for the completion of the demonstration pilot. A business
plan is available for further details.
Technology
The technological processes at issue in the Bio-Petrol project belong to
the sphere of liquefying carbon-rich solid fuels. The liquefaction
processes common today comprise two stages:

1. Thermal breakdown of the molecular structure to create radical

fractions different in size.

2. Stabilization of the radicals by recombining themselves or by

redistribution of hydrogen from the raw material itself or by hydrogen
that is introduced from outside (molecular hydrogen or from hydrogen-
donor matter).

Bio-Petrol Company has carried out R&D work which has resulted in the
formulation of a suitable process for producing synthetic oil from sewage
sludge with larger output than that obtained from the common process-
i.e. pyrolysis. By integrating familiar liquefaction methods the company
developed a process of high utilization of the organic matter that is in the
sewage sludge that produces oil and gas in larger quantities and of better
quality.

What is Ethanol?
Ethanol is part of a category of molecules called alcohols. The simplest
alcohol is called methanol and is very similar to a compound called
methane. Methane is a molecule composed of one carbon atom
surrounded by 4 hydrogen atoms. In methanol, one of these hydrogen
atoms is replaced with an oxygen atom with a hydrogen atom attached to
it. This two atom group, oxygen attached to a hydrogen, is called an
alcohol group.

Any molecule that has an alcohol group attached to it can be called an

alcohol. To make it easier to talk about, chemists add an “ol” on the end
of a chemicals name to indicate that it has an alcohol group. Therefore,
methane with an alcohol group attached is called methanol. For ethanol,
it is an ethane molecule –two carbon atoms, with six hydrogen atoms
surrounding them—with one hydrogen replaced by an alcohol group.
Then, the name ethane is changed to ethanol, to indicate that it is an
alcohol.

How Ethanol is Made

Ethanol has been used by humans for thousands of years, in part because
it is easy to make. In fact, nature can make it for us in a process called
fermentation.

Fermentation is a biochemical process carried out by microscopic

organisms called yeast. Yeast are anaerobic, meaning they can live and
eat without needing oxygen. Many living things eat sugar, and yeast eat
sugar too. When there is no oxygen, yeast chow down on sugar, but they
can’t get all of the energy that is available in sugar out of it. Instead they
use it to get some energy, and in the process of digesting it, convert it into
ethanol and carbon dioxide Petrol.

Yeast are even used to make bread. When making bread, bakers use the
yeasts ability to make carbon dioxide Petrol to make the bread rise,
making it thicker. If it were not for yeast, pizza dough would be flatter
than a pancake.

Scientists have also invented ways to make ethanol synthetically, without

utilizing nature’s help. The process converts a byproduct of making
Petrololine into ethanol. Although this process is used, more than 90% of
the ethanol produced per year is made using yeast
Replacing Petrololine with Corn?
Yeast only consume simple sugars, so only certain foods are good for
putting them to work making ethanol. Bakers use the sugar that you can
find in your kitchen. But it takes a lot of kitchen sugar to fill the tank of
your car with ethanol. Some countries, such as Brazil, that grow a lot of
sugar use it to make ethanol for cars. Brazil has been producing ethanol
fuels for decades. The United States does not have enough sugar cane
plants to do this. Instead, the U.S. has focused on using corn.

Corn has less sugar in it than sugar cane, requiring scientists to develop
ways to convert corn’s more complex sugars into simple sugars. Critics of
using corn for fuel say that it takes more energy to make ethanol from
corn than it takes to make regular Petrololine.

However, a recent review of many different studies in the American

Chemical Society journal, Environmental Science and Technology,
suggests that in most cases, using corn would still save us from using as
much fossil fuels as we would if we just used Petrololine.

Sticks, husks, and grass to Ethanol?

A new method is being developed that may be even more promising than
using corn or sugar cane as yeast food. All plants make a complex sugar
called cellulose and it is one of the most abundant plant materials on
earth. Cotton is almost all cellulose, and some forms of cellulose can be
found in many of the foods that we eat. Trees have it. Grass has it. Even
corn stalks. But yeast don’t eat cellulose. Recently several groups of
researchers have developed enzymes, which are complex molecules that
operate like little machines, to break apart cellulose into simple sugars
that the yeast can eat. What makes this very interesting is that farms and
other industries already produce tons and tons of waste materials that
contain cellulose. Just imagine, all the sticks and grass clippings from
your yard or playground could be turned into fuel for your car. Farms
can also grow plants for making ethanol. President George W. Bush
mentioned one of these, switch grass, in the 2006 State of the Union
address. Therefore, farms or timber companies can convert their waste
into ethanol. There is also one additional benefit, and challenge to
processing cellulose. Cellulose is often stuck together with another plant
compound called lignin. Lignins are compounds that make plants strong,
and they trap cellulose. Lignins are one of the waste products of
papermaking. But, lignin materials extracted from waste materials used
for making ethanol can be burned to power the process, saving more
fossil fuels