Green Chemistry and Commerce Council — Green Chemistry and DfE

Green Chemistry and DfE

Green Chemistry

Green chemistry is an approach to chemistry that, through the use of the 12 Principles of Green Chemistry, reduces or eliminates the need for and generation of hazardous materials during the manufacture, design, and application of chemistry. The 12 Principles of Green Chemistry are outlined in Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice, by Doctors Paul Anastas and John Warner:

Prevent waste: Design chemical syntheses to prevent waste, leaving no waste to treat or clean up.

Design safer chemicals and products: Design chemical products to be fully effective, yet have little or no toxicity.

Design less hazardous chemical syntheses: Design syntheses to use and generate substances with little or no toxicity to humans and the environment.

Use renewable feedstocks: Use raw materials and feedstocks that are renewable rather than depleting. Renewable feedstocks are often made from agricultural products or are the wastes of other processes; depleting feedstocks are made from fossil fuels (petroleum, natural gas, or coal) or are mined.

Use catalysts, not stoichiometric reagents: Minimize waste by using catalytic reactions. Catalysts are used in small amounts and can carry out a single reaction many times. They are preferable to stoichiometric reagents, which are used in excess and work only once.

Avoid chemical derivatives: Avoid using blocking or protecting groups or any temporary modifications if possible. Derivatives use additional reagents and generate waste.

Maximize atom economy: Design syntheses so that the final product contains the maximum proportion of the starting materials. There should be few, if any, wasted atoms.

Use safer solvents and reaction conditions: Avoid using solvents, separation agents, or other auxiliary chemicals. If these chemicals are necessary, use innocuous chemicals.

Increase energy efficiency: Run chemical reactions at ambient temperature and pressure whenever possible.

Design chemicals and products to degrade after use: Design chemical products to break down to innocuous substances after use so that they do not accumulate in the environment.

Analyze in real time to prevent pollution: Include in-process real-time monitoring and control during syntheses to minimize or eliminate the formation of byproducts.

Minimize the potential for accidents: Design chemicals and their forms (solid, liquid, or gas) to minimize the potential for chemical accidents including explosions, fires, and releases to the environment.

Design for Environment

The Design for the Environment (DfE) Program works in partnership with a broad range of stakeholders to reduce risk to people and the environment by prevention pollution. DfE focuses on industries that combine the potential for chemical risk reduction with a strong motivation to make lasting, positive changes. DfE convenes partners, including industry representatives and environmental groups, to develop goals and guide the work of the partnership. Partnerships evaluate the human health and environmental considerations, performance, and cost of traditional and alternative technologies, materials, and processes. As incentives for participation and driving change, DfE offers unique technical tools, methodologies, and expertise.

EPA’s DfE program has reached more than 200,000 business facilities and approximately 2 million workers, reducing the use of chemicals of concern by approximately 237 million pounds per year. Click here for more about DfE.

The DfE Program uses the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics unique chemical assessment tools and expertise to inform substitution and help industry use Green Chemistry in products. DfE multi-stakeholder alternatives analyses have helped industry move to safer flame retardants in furniture and reduce the use of lead in electronics. The DfE Formulator Program partners with manufacturers of chemically blended products, helping them bring to market a wide range of safer products, from all-purpose cleaners and conversion coatings that do not use Chrome 6, to holding tank treatments and zinc-free floor finishes.

The Formulator Program has had especially strong participation from the cleaning product sector and counts among its partners many large, small and medium-sized companies. Over the past year, interest has intensified in the consumer products area, driven by corporate sustainability efforts, including Home Depot's Eco Options program and Wal-Mart's developing challenge to their suppliers to use safer ingredients in their products.

The DfE assessment methodology involves the technical review of each product component, starting with the chemical component’s structure, to determine its key health and environmental characteristics. The review team then compares an ingredient’s characteristics to other chemicals in the same use class, considers possible negative synergies between ingredients, and places the ingredient on a continuum of improvement relative to other similar chemicals. Through its methodology DfE provides information to formulators that helps them select from among the safest chemicals in an ingredient class. The approach is adaptable to changing circumstances and new information, emphasizing continuous improvement as the opportunities for safer formulations grow with chemical innovation.