What is Green Chemistry?

I thought I had a bit of an understanding of green chemistry when I started taking this course.  I definitely think that the more I learn, I realize that I really knew very little in the first place.  I would describe green chemistry as the study of how to lessen the environmental impact of industrial and chemical processes.  Replacing materials with green-friendly alternatives and making reactions as efficient as possible is something that green chemistry is all about.
One principle of green chemistry is about finding safer solvents, and I learned a lot about this, particularly during writing blogs.  So many materials that have been traditionally the go-to things that were sought after are so bad for our environment.  Another problem with that is that they are also in short supply, and we have the potential to create new resources that will not damage the environment to replace them.  So many green alternatives are also far more cost-efficient than their counterparts.  Another principle that ties into this is the one that involves the search for renewable feedstocks.  I also have a much better understanding of the prevention principle too.  That one is all about reducing waste from being produced than figuring out what to do with it after it has already been created.
Some things that will stick with me are the real-life applications of this that are really beneficial.  I still remember the example about ibuprofen that was discussed early on in the course, and how green chemists were able to greatly reduce the amount of waste obtained during the production process.

Renewable Feedstock

Finding alternatives for traditional, nonrenewable feedstocks has become more necessary recently.  Traditionally, a great deal of the feedstocks used were petroleum-based, and this has posed a problem because it is a resource that is not in unlimited supply.  Finding possible alternative, renewable feedstocks provide many benefits.  It could end the dependence upon foreign oil, and if we are able to find something that we can produce in this country, it could be a serious boost to the economy if we were able to create an entire new industry out of this.
One example of a renewable feedstock that has become very popular over the past few years is corn.  Corn is used in ethanol, which is an alternative fuel.  Ethanol is more efficient than gasoline, cheaper to produce, and can be used in any engine.  All of these make it something that should become much more popular in upcoming years.  Ethanol also does not have the potential to cause health problems like gasoline does, and has even been endorsed by the American Lung Association as a green alternative to gasoline.  Awareness of such problems with nonrenewable resources should also be spread because as much progress as has been made on green issues in the past few years, public awareness of exactly how much of a problem we have is still a bit lacking.

Cogeneration Plant

UNH became the first university in the country to use landfill gas as a primary fuel source in 2009.  This project was completed after 4 years of work, and got the school national recognition.  The system sounds really complicated, but I was able to piece it together.
This was known as a "landfill gas to energy project," and that's a pretty easy way of summing it up.  The energy comes from methane gas from a landfill that has been purified and brought to the school through the use of many wells and collection pipes.  This system enables UNH Durham to obtain about 85% of its energy through this source, a tremendous number by any standards because it's a fairly large school.
The cogeneration plant project costed about $49 million to make, but UNH has found ways to recoup this financial loss.  It is going to sell the renewable energy certificates, and sell power that was not needed for the campus back to the power grid.  Some of this money will be used to further research environmentally-friendly practices for the university.

Agriculture vs. Sustainability

I work at a restaurant that is has been growing as a name that serves sustainable fish, and so it is something I find myself encountering quite a bit.  I was always happy to just absorb whatever people around me at work had to say about it, but today I decided to research it a bit and form some opinions myself.  Words like "farm-raised" and "wild-caught" are thrown around a lot, and there is a lot of hype about both of these options.
Wild-caught fish generally has a much better reputation because there are some (this may not be the nicest way to say it) pretty nasty fish farms out there.  I have heard and read many things about fish in farms being fed things that are potentially toxic, not being given enough space, and generally living in conditions that do not mimic the wild as much as the owners of these farms would like you to think.  However, there are some farms that are starting to pop up, mostly in the UK, that are not entirely horrible for the environment.  They have different standards of circulating the water, and they also tend to rotate the fish through three tanks, which is preferable to keeping them in the same tank all the time.
On the other hand, wild-caught fish, when the fish is something that is appropriate to catch and is not on any type of endangered list, generally has a much better reputation.  There are many reasons for this.  Farms that raise fish can try and mimic natural conditions, but there is just nothing like the real thing.  Also, it is difficult to regulate a man-made environment.  Even though farms sometimes have more than one type of fish, this can also lead to one type taking over the rest because of an ill-regulated environment.
The Monterrey Bay Aquarium Seafood Guide is widely recognized at providing the public with up-to-date descriptions of which fish are the best to eat.  They have a system that represents the sustainability of a fish choice.  Their "green light" is the best choice, the "yellow light" is a good alternative, and a "red light" is something that is not sustainable, or in danger of being overfished, and so it should not be used.  They update this guide every six months and it is very user-friendly, so much so that they even have an iPhone app!

Biological Interaction

     According to most previously conducted research, microbial Fe (III) reduction has been caused by the interaction of NO3-.  This interaction has not been thoroughly studied in experiments that were conducted using solid-phase iron oxide materials, specifically, as a source.  In an experiment studying such an interaction, a bacterium called Shewanella putrefaciens 200 was grown in an environment that mimicked groundwater conditions.  There was an iron-creating oxidous material called goethite in this environment as well, and this was supposed to function as the solid-phase iron oxide material.
     During this experiment, the NO3- reduced the growth of the surface goethite more than it reduced the growth of other substances that served similar purposes in other such experiments, namely aqueous or mircocrystalline materials.  Also, the presence of the goethite reduced the decrease in quantity of the NO3-.  This experiment displays a different microbial interaction than has been typically studied when doing experiments of this nature.

D. Craig Cooper et al, Chemical and Biological Interactions during Nitrate and Goethite Reduction by Shewanella putrefaciens 200, American Society for Microbiology: Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 5 March 2003.

Air Pollutant

     According to the EPA website, lead is one of the most common air pollutants.  The major source of pollution caused by lead in the environment used to come from auto fuel emissions, but new regulation has ceased this.  Instead, lead comes mostly now from the manufacturing industry, where it is mostly used in making metals.

     The Clean Air Act was instated in 1990, and this forced each state to come up with a multi-point plan as to how they would maintain air quality standards by combating lead pollution in the environment.  Because of this legislation, many programs have been created that combat this pollution in different ways.  States are required to come up with a system to measure pollution, a plan to rectify or control excessive levels, and then another program to ensure that the plans have been put in place and are functioning appropriately.  Having this multi-faceted program enables states to ensure that their plans are working properly and to make necessary changes.

     In addition to the above, each state is required to submit their plan to the EPA, which must approve it.  The EPA has the authority to decline any plan and require states to make changes to it in order for it to function properly.  States are also required to make information on pollutant levels in their areas public information so that citizens can look at them at will.

Water and Green Solvents

     The first "green solvent," was developed by a team of chemists from the University of Buffalo, the University of Texas, the University of Nottingham, and the University of Colorado.  It was a microemulsion, and it was made of water, an alternative form of carbon dioxide, and a flourinated surfactant.  A flourinated surfactant is composed of multiple flourine atoms, and is used to lower the surface tension of water.  This particular surfactant was one that is typically used as a blood substitute.
     This solvent was unique because it was composed of water as well as carbon dioxide.  Carbon dioxide is also a naturally preferable solvent, since it is not dangerous and is in abundantly available.  However, water and proteins cannot be dissolved in carbon dioxide alone, which created the need for the other ingredients listed above.

Green catalyst

     Recent research has indicated that iron is quite useful as a catalyst when creating pharmaceuticals and fragrances, among other substances.  Iron has been used lately in replacement of harsh, toxic catalysts, and with impressive results.  Not only is this substance more green, it is also cost-efficient.  In the past, metals such as ruthenium and rhodium have been used for the same purpose, rendering the substance toxic until costly toxin removal procedures have been performed.  There is no such risk when iron is used because it is safe and does not produce toxins in these reactions.
     I liked doing research for this blog because I was able to find an example of something that is green and also economically preferable to the alternative processes.  I hear of so many examples of living in an environmentally-friendly way costing more, and there are many cases like this where it is actually less expensive to use a safer, more natural product.

Green Materials

     While searching for an inspiration for this blog, I happened to be staring around my apartment.  I wanted to find something to write about that I could relate to my life.  I ended up digging through my cleaning products (buying all environmentally-friendly cleaning products is a crusade I embarked upon about two years ago, and it's going really well).  I found a product, and decided to do some research on the internet to find out exactly how awesome this product is.
     One brand that I use is called Seventh Generation, which is apparently one of the most popular brands of green cleaning products out there.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they have a really informative website.  The Free & Clear All-Purpose Cleaner that I chose to research has only a handful of ingredients, almost all of which are plant-based.  The only exception to the plant-based ingredients was a synthetic preservative.  The use of this preservative was something I could understand because since the ingredients in this product are natural, it would probably have a pretty short shelf-life if there was nothing in it to ensure that it did not age too rapidly.  Also, there is clearly not a whole lot of this preservative in my cleaning product, because it is the last ingredient listed on the label.
     The first ingredient listed on the label for the cleaner I found is caprylyl glocuside.  I did some research on this compound, and learned that it is a pretty interesting product because it is able to do something that chemicals used in traditional cleaning products cannot.  It is used to mix oils from plants and water that are not normally able to mix, so that they can be together in the same product and they will not separate.  It is very mild, and I also learned that it is quite prevalent in many lines of green household cleaning products.  The molecular formula for it is C22H46O6.
   One alternative to the caprylyl glucoside that is in traditional cleaning products is sulfates.  Sulfates serve the same purpose that this plant-based ingredient does, and it has various detrimental affects on the human body.  The most mild that I was able to find is that sulfates strip natural moisture from the human body, along with other things like amino acids.  I would take my cleaners made from plants over that any day.

Chemical Compounds

     For this blog, I used the label from a box of crackers.  I decided to pick three random compounds, and I found thiamin mononitrate, maltodextrin, and disodium guanylate.  Disodium inosinate has the chemical formula C₁₀H₁₁N₄Na₂O₈P.  It is a food additive that is commonly found in snacks, and it is said to add an "umami-type" taste to foods.  Umami is a recently-discovered taste, and it is described as being broth-like.

     Maltodextrin is another food additive that is normally seen as a sprayed-on type white powder.  When I read this, it occurred to me that this discovery meant that there was artificial color in my crackers.  That did not entirely surprise me, but obviously something like that is not comforting.  The chemical formula is C_6nH_(10n+2)O_{(5n+1).  The third compound I found was thiamin mononitrate, which has a chemical formula of}C₁₂H₁₇ClN₄OS.  This compound is derived from B vitamins, and is commonly known as vitamin B1.  Thiamine is an essential nutrient for living creatures because it enables them to perform vital cellular functions.

     This activity was very interesting for me because it allowed me to further consider what I am putting into my body.  Almost anything we interact with or purchase has a label, but how many of us take the time to read it?  And even though some of us may read it, how many fully understand what it says?

What is Green Chemistry?

     Green chemistry is the study and practice of designing and using products that reduce or eliminate hazardous materials.  The main idea here is to reduce the need for energy sources and to make products safer.  While reading online, I was able to find many instances where a practice that was considered an industry standard was discovered to be unsafe.  When this occurs, green chemists are able to find safer alternatives that are both cost-efficient and environmentally friendly.
     Another idea brought about by the rise of green chemistry is that it is easier to prevent a mess from being made than it is to clean up a mess that has already been made.  This is especially pertinent now, as our energy sources are running out and current industry practices are destroying the environment.  Green chemistry is quickly becoming more "trendy," and certainly making people more aware of the affect that humans have on the world around them.
     Supporting the idea of green chemistry are what is known as the "12 Principles of Green Chemistry."  These all seem pretty basic on their own; the list includes things like designing safer solvents and calling for  pollution prevention.  When they are all put together, it is a very straightforward set of ideals that illustrate the need for this type of work to be done.