Green chemistry

What characterises green chemistry? The use of renewable raw materials and eco-friendly production processes.

The term “green chemistry” was coined in 1991 by a lecturer, Paul Anastas, at the University of Berkeley, and indicates a new technological approach that applies the innovative principles in designing industrial chemical processes.

The instruments used by Green Chemistry are:

• the use of raw materials from renewable sources;

• increase in the selection and yield of chemical reactions;

• replacement of obsolete compounds with new alternatives that maintain their functional efficiency whilst reducing toxic properties to man and the environment;

Objectives and advantages:

• monitoring, improving and reducing carbon dioxide emissions in the environment;

• reduction in the quantity of raw materials and energy used in chemical reactions;

• reduction in the development of by-products and consequent disposal in the environment;