Green Chemistry

Journal: Green Chemistry

Abbreviation

Green Chem.

Publisher

Royal Society of Chemistry

ISSN

1463-9262
1463-9270

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Publications1 - 10 of 57

Net-zero transition of the global chemical industry with CO2-feedstock by 2050: feasible yet challenging
Huo, Jing; Wang, Zhanyun; Oberschelp, Christopher; et al. (2023)
Green Chemistry
Carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) have been projected by the power and industrial sectors to play a vital role towards net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. In this study, we aim to explore the feasibility of a global chemical industry that fully relies on CO2 as its carbon source in 2050. We project the global annual CO2 demand as chemical feedstock to be 2.2-3.1 gigatonnes (Gt), well within the possible range of supply (5.2-13.9 Gt) from the power, cement, steel, and kraft pulp sectors. Hence, feedstock availability is not a constraint factor for the transition towards a fully CO2-based chemical industry on the global basis, with the exception of few regions that could face local supply shortages, such as the Middle East. We further conduct life cycle assessment to examine the environmental benefits on climate change and the trade-offs of particulate matter-related health impacts induced by carbon capture. We conclude that CO2 captured from solid biomass-fired power plants and kraft pulp mills in Europe would have the least environmental and health impacts, and that India and China should prioritize low-impact regional electricity supply before a large-scale deployment of CCUS. Finally, two bottom-up case studies of China and the Middle East illustrate how the total regional environmental and health impacts from carbon capture can be minimized by optimizing its supply sources and transport, requiring cross-sectoral cooperation and early planning of infrastructure. Overall, capture and utilization of unabatable industrial waste CO2 as chemical feedstock can be a feasible way for the net-zero transition of the industry, while concerted efforts are yet needed to build up the carbon-capture-and-utilization value chain around the world.
Biomass valorisation over polyoxometalate-based catalysts
Zhong, Jiawei; Pérez-Ramı́rez, Javier; Yan, Ning (2021)
Green Chemistry
The efficient utilization of biomass, the only globally available, renewable and abundant carbon-neutral source, is of high significance in green and sustainable chemistry. Polyoxometalates (POMs) and POM-based composites have been widely applied in green catalytic reactions, due to their tunable Brønsted/Lewis-acidity and redox properties enabling high reactivity in a wide range of chemical transformations. This review covers recent advances in the chemocatalytic conversion of biomass into chemicals and fuels over POMs and POM-metal composites. For biomass valorisation over POMs, the advances of acid catalysis including hydrolysis, dehydration, etherification, alcoholysis, transesterification and esterification are summarised. Furthermore, applications in chemical oxidation for the synthesis of organic acids and furan chemicals are discussed. For biomass valorisation over metal-POM composites, an overview of tandem reactions (e.g. hydrolysis-hydrogenation, hydrolysis-oxidation, hydrogenolysis-hydrodeoxygenation) is highlighted. The future perspective of biomass valorisation over POM-based catalysts is finally presented.
Greening two chemicals with one bio-alcohol: environmental and economic potential of dehydrogenation to hydrogen and acids
Lahrsen, Inga-Marie; Bargiacchi, Eleonora; Schilling, Johannes; et al. (2025)
Green Chemistry
Biomass is a promising feedstock for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the chemical industry. Biomass availability, however, is limited. Still, many bio-based processes focus on producing a single product. Thereby, valuable feedstock potential is often lost with undesired co-products. In this study, we assess the environmental and economic potential of bio-based multi-product systems and provide insights on the sustainability benefits of co-producing hydrogen and high-value acids from bio-alcohols compared to fossil and green alternatives. We select dehydrogenation as a promising early-stage technology for producing hydrogen and four co-product candidates: formic acid, acetic acid, lactic acid, and succinic acid. All investigated dehydrogenation multi-product systems show the potential to reduce climate impacts and to become profitable. A higher carbon tax can improve the economic potential. Acetic acid is the most promising co-product compared to both fossil and green benchmarks with potential benefits in various environmental impact categories. In contrast, co-producing lactic acid shows substantial trade-offs compared to the benchmark technologies. Expected eutrophication impacts associated with biomass use occur in all dehydrogenation routes. Our analysis highlights that multi-product systems can increase benefits compared to single-product systems from both environmental and economic perspectives.
Chlorine borrowing
Makowski, Philippe; Rothe, Regina; Thomas, Arne; et al. (2009)
Green Chemistry
Hydroxyapatite, an exceptional catalyst for the gas-phase deoxygenation of bio-oil by aldol condensation
Rodrigues, E.G.; Keller, T.C.; Mitchell, S.; et al. (2014)
Green Chemistry
What to do with polyurethane waste? The environmental potential of chemically recycling polyurethane rigid foam
Pillich, Martin Peter; Schilling, Johannes; Bosetti, Luca; et al. (2024)
Green Chemistry
Chemical recycling of plastics has gathered momentum to manage plastic waste and replace fossil-based feedstocks. However, chemical recycling of complex polymers, such as polyurethane (PU) rigid foam, can yield a variety of intermediates. But which intermediates reduce environmental impacts the most when produced from PU is currently unclear. In this work, we assess the potential of chemical recycling of PU rigid foam waste to reduce environmental impacts compared to state-of-the-art treatment options, such as incineration and landfilling. For this purpose, we extend the environmental potential methodology to account for any possible recycling product. We then calculate the environmental potential for six ideal closed-loop recycling options and one experimentally demonstrated recycling option based on a patent. All analyzed chemical recycling options for PU rigid foam to various intermediates are shown to offer a substantial environmental potential to reduce multiple environmental impacts. The best performing option recovers both polyol and isocyanate and can decrease climate change impacts by 3.8–5.6 kgCO2eq. per kg PU treated. However, PU rigid foam recycling to low-value intermediates, such as benzene, does not seem promising due to burden shifting actually increasing half of the analyzed environmental impacts. We further determine the minimal conversion rates required to reduce environmental impacts by chemical recycling of PU rigid foam. Our environmental potential analysis assists the decision-making process for product prioritization in recycling and identifies (side-)products whose recovery is worth investigating from an environmental perspective.
Nitrous oxide as a green oxidant: a holistic evaluation based on economic, environmental, and safety metrics
Nabera, Abhinandan; Beshara, Gian-Marco; Guillén Gosálbez, Gonzalo; et al. (2025)
Green Chemistry
Sustainable chemical synthesis requires atom-efficient and highly selective oxidation processes. Nitrous oxide, N₂O, exhibits unique reactivity in oxidation catalysis due to its ability to deliver selective mono-oxygen species, thereby minimising overoxidation. Industrially, the majority of N₂O is produced via the five-step thermal decomposition of ammonium nitrate, a process limited by safety, environmental, and economic concerns. Recent advances in catalyst design offer the one-step direct catalytic oxidation of ammonia (NH3), potentially streamlining production while reducing costs. However, the performance of different N₂O production routes across process-based metrics remains poorly understood, making the benefits of the one-step route hypothetical. Furthermore, the majority of existing frameworks for evaluating emerging technologies fail to integrate the three fundamental pillars of sustainability: economic viability, environmental performance, and societal safety. Here, we present an integrated framework encompassing all three pillars of sustainability by combining techno-economic analysis, life cycle assessment, and quantitative safety indicators such as Dow's fire & explosion index and TNT equivalency. Specifically, for N₂O, we compare the one-step direct NH₃ oxidation process with the conventional five-step route and find that the former, which employs fossil-derived or electrolytic hydrogen-based green NH₃, reduces both production costs and carbon footprint by over 20% while significantly lowering safety hazards. In addition, we benchmark N₂O against hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), a well-established oxidant, and demonstrate that N₂O produced from a fossil/green NH₃ blend can match the carbon footprint of H₂O₂ while offering ca. 40% cost savings and lower safety risks. Given the benefits of one-step N₂O, we also demonstrate its potential in a key application: phenol synthesis via direct oxidation of benzene, compared with the conventional cumene route and the H₂O₂-based direct oxidation. Overall, our findings highlight N₂O's potential in oxidation chemistry and underscore the value of our integrated sustainability framework for assessing new technologies.
Autohydrolysis pretreatment of softwood: Enhancement by phenolic additives and the effects of other compounds
Pielhop, Thomas; Larrazábal, Gastón O.; Rudolf von Rohr, Philipp (2016)
Green Chemistry
The effects of different additives on lignin repolymerisation in the autohydrolysis pretreatment of softwood and the consequences for enzymatic cellulose digestibility have been studied.
Non-biocidal preservation of wood against brown-rot fungi with a TiO2/Ce xerogel
Guo, Huizhang; Bachtiar, Erik Valentine; Ribera, Javier; et al. (2018)
Green Chemistry
A new approach for protecting wood materials from fungal degradation through a non-biocidal inorganic system of a TiO₂/Ce xerogel.
Production of 1,6-hexanediol from tetrahydropyran-2-methanol by dehydration-hydration and hydrogenation
Burt, Samuel P.; Barnett, Kevin J.; McClelland, Daniel J.; et al. (2017)
Green Chemistry

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