Academic Year: 2018/2019                                                                                                                       
Teacher: Citterio Attilio
Degree: Laurea Magistrale

Scuola di Ingegneria Industriale e dell’Informazione
096125 – INTRODUCTION TO GREEN AND SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY (Cfu 5)
Scuola di Ingegneria Civile, Ambientale e Territoriale
095857 BASIC OF GREEN AND SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY (Cfu 8)

Note: The official language of the course is English. Support in Italian will also be provided. 

 precedence requirements: Chemistry; (suggested: Organic Chemistry)

Detailed Program
Green Chemistry (known also as Chemistry for Sustainability) and Green Engineering are a set of knowledge useful in designing the construction of materials, products and plants in a manner that has minimal impact on human health and the environment. The course aims to introduce the principles of Green Chemistry and Green Engineering to provide the tools necessary to evaluate different synthetic procedures and BAT technologies. Examples from industry, including reaction conditions, alternative solvents, feedstock and intermediates selection, optimization of performance materials, will be discussed as well as emerging trends in bioprocesses and catalysis.
The course is organized in several sections: 1) Sustainability and Principles of Green Chemistry, 2) Control of Environmental impact of chemical processes and products, 3) Toxicity and Sustainability Legislation, 4) Green metrics, 5) Industrial Ecology, 6) Biopolymers and Natural Products, 7) Biotransformation and Biotechnology, 8) Energy Efficiency and Emerging Technologies, 9) Process Intensification, 10) Intrinsic safety, 11) Solvent and feedstock selection, 12) Catalysis for Sustainable Chemistry, 13) Product and Process Alternatives, 14) Process Analytical Technology and Quality by Design.

Green Chemistry is an interdisciplinary topic, which requires a sound basis in organic chemistry coupled with awareness of many emerging interfaces with chemistry, engineering and other disciplines.

Instructions
The course is intended to provide students in Engineering Chemistry, Environmental Engineering, Safety Engineering and Material Engineering with an overview of the fundamentals of pollution prevention, green chemistry and green engineering. Students should gain a greater appreciation of how improvements and modifications are being made in both research and manufacturing to maintain and even enhance environmental quality, preventing risks connected with the production and use of harmful or toxic chemicals. It may also assist students and laureates in choosing a professional career in chemical industries and in the environmental-safety sectors. The course includes recent trends in the fundamental re-engineering of chemical process, i.e. process intensification, use of catalysis and non-traditional media and energy sources, green metrics and LCA criteria to evaluate alternative processes and products, etc.. A relevant section is devoted to living organisms, their metabolism and ecology to better understand the growing role of biomass as renewable source that are capable to “green up” the chemical industry and to support sustainable development of the human society, satisfying the demand in energy and materials.

Credits
Students will given assignments to prepare before class and will be encouraged to discuss exercises and course material. Student evaluation will be carried out through an intermediate and a final written examination, each organized in 10-13 open questions, taking into account the different credits (8 for Environmental Engineering students and 5 for Chemical Engineering and Safety Engineering students).

Description of topics
1) Sustainability of raw materials and energy sources: renewable and not renewable resources – survey of main concerns – 12 Principles of Green Chemistry and Green Engineering – tools and methodologies for the assessment of chemical, toxicological and environmental risk – Life Cycle Analysis of products and processes, indicators – Green Design of chemicals, polymers, and materials.

2) Toxicology – hazard and exposure – toxicity risk assessment – REACh: EU Chemicals Law – Safety: types of hazard – risk evaluation/prevention/mitigation – Inherent Safety – clean production – substitution of toxic/dangerous chemicals.

3) Improvement of environmental performance of existing industrial processes – Green Metrics – greener production of chemical commodities, materials, and fine chemicals from industry – BAT technologies – Industrial Ecology.

4) Energy – sources, efficiency, safety: fuel types and their environmental impact – hydrogen economy – biofuels – unconventional energy sources: microwave, ultrasounds, photo-chemistry, electrochemistry.

5) Living organisms: structure and metabolism – Biomass and Cn building blocks – bio-polymers.

6) Bio-refinery: enzymes and metabolism – transformation of conventional raw materials into a wide range of commodities – bio-conversion – energy crops – biofuels –  molecular specialties – biotechnology.

7) Development and scale-up of chemical processes: statistical methods in process optimization and just in time analytical controls – green engineering – commodity and specialty issues – chiral products – process intensification and miniaturization – inherently safer processes.

8) Catalysis in green chemistry: heterogeneous catalysis (acid, metal, micellar, phase transfer) – supported reagents – homogeneous catalysis – bio-catalysis.

9) Alternative solvents for Green Chemistry: VOC – super-critical fluids – ionic/eutectic liquids – gas expanded liquids – polymeric liquids.

10) Mechanical, thermal and chemical recycling of plastics: effluent and waste minimization and control – durability of products and materials – recycling technologies – bio-remediation.

Objectives:
Upon completion of this course you will be able to:

  • recognize and discuss the major issues related to sustainability

  • understand the basics of green chemistry and recognize green chemical processes and products

  • understand fundamental considerations of alternative energy sources

  • understand the nature, reactivity, and environmental fates of toxic organic chemicals

  • understand the biochemical basis of biological organisms and the importance of biomass as source of energy and chemicals

  • understand the recent trends in industry issues related to sustainability and safety with emphasis on national and international regulations.

  • understand the societal implications of some environmental problems and the green chemistry proposed solutions

Bibliography

  • Kletz T., Process Plants. Handbook for Inherently Safer Design, Ed Oxford Univ. Press, 1998.
  • P.T. Anastas, J.C. Warner, Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice, Ed. Oxford Univ. Press, 2000.
  • L. Constable, D. Constable, Green Chemistry Metrics: Measuring and Monitoring Sustainable Processes, Ed. Wiley, 2009.
  • P. Dunn, A. Wells, M.T. Williams, Green Chemistry in the Pharmaceutical Industry, Ed.: Wiley-VCH, 2009.
  • G. Towler, R.K. Sinnott, Chemical Engineering Design: Principles, Practice and Economics of Plant and Process Design,, Ed. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2007.
  • F.M. Kerton, Alternative Solvents for Green Chemistry
  • J.H. Clark, G. Kraus, A. Stankiewicz, P. Seidl, C. Hu RSC Green Chemistry Series Ed.: RCS, 2009-2016.