1,720,982 research outputs found
Procedural life cycle inventory of chemical products at laboratory and pilot scale: a compendium
Full text linkLife Cycle Assessment (LCA) is widely acknowledged by academia and industry as a key tool for promoting environmental sustainability within the field of green chemistry. However, certain barriers hinder its straightforward applicability, primarily stemming from data unavailability when the target reaction falls outside the direct or indirect control of LCA practitioners. Several methodologies have been proposed over the years to address the data gap in terms of mass, energy, catalyst, emissions, recovery, etc. These have been compiled into a compendium aimed at providing comprehensive guidance for practitioners in overcoming this challenge. This procedural life cycle inventory aims to facilitate the adoption of LCA by ensuring that key environmental steps, such as energy consumption, are not overlooked, and that mass balances are complete. The methodology is presented through a case study focusing on bio-based maleic anhydride
Recycling within the Chemical Industry: The Circular Economy Era
No full textIn this present work, we have briefly discussed the importance of recycling within the chemical sector. Recycling is fundamental in promoting a circular economy, which is a new paradigm of sustainability that is able to reduce environmental implications, and in creating new business opportunities. Therefore, to highlight the importance of recycling in the circular economy era, we have reported on some recent examples of strategies helpful to minimize waste by increasing the efficiency of the whole system and promoting a greener/safer chemical industry
Environmental certifications and programs roadmap for a sustainable chemical industry
No full textMeeting public demands for benign chemistry will require companies to develop holistic approaches that manage chemicals from three different perspectives that focus on the organization, its products, or specific chemical materials. A more collaborative approach to chemical management will depend on building trust among a diverse group of stakeholders with often conflicting objectives
Sustainable by design approaches
Full text linkNon richiesto, articolo editoriale di apertura di un virtual special issu
Regional food consumption in Italy, a life cycle analysis
Full text linkUrbanization and globalization have led to an increasing concern and focus on the sustainability of the food sector, particularly in discussing the composition of consumers' diets. This study examines Italian consumption habits, categorizing them into four macro-geographical areas (North-West, North-East, Center, South, and Islands), utilizing public data obtained from surveys including 3323 individuals, and assesses their environmental impacts through the application of the Life Cycle Assessment methodology. The findings unveil distinct dietary patterns across Italian macro-regions, indicative of cultural disparities, and present avenues for promoting environmentally sustainable dietary choices. The study identifies meat consumption as the primary environmental concern across all macro-regions, with fish emerging as a secondary contributor to particulate matter formation. Pork and poultry exhibit notable impacts within toxicity-related categories. Additionally, the research underscores challenges in data collection, notably the absence of a site-specific Italian database, and underscores the necessity for more recent consumption data to accurately capture contemporary Italian dietary habits. Finally, the study demonstrates that addressing the issue from a macro-regional perspective allows for more targeted and dedicated cultural interventions
LCA integration within sustainability metrics for chemical companies
No full textThe application of a life-cycle perspective within the industrial sector may help companies in supporting all the planning activities aimed to promote new business opportunities. The usage of LCA is a common practice in corporates working in the field of chemistry. The development and production of fine/bulk chemicals, pharmaceuticals, plastics, personal care products, etc., may be supported by LCA and green metrics. The development of a lower impact and safer chemical industry is encouraged by the adoption of the Green Chemistry principles. Among these the usage of renewables sources of building blocks is one of the most investigated principle. However, the use of biomass as starting precursors needs to be assessed through LCA before considering a bio-based route greener than the traditional fossil pathway. Recently, the social sphere of sustainability has increased its importance also in the chemical industry, because many chemicals could have social repercussions as a consequence of their adoption. The implementation of S-LCA strategies may help enterprises to configure repercussions of their activities in this sense, by achieving SDGs described in the Agenda 2030. This chapter is intended to drive readers through such issues by stimulating their sensibility towards sustainability within the chemical industry
Beyond the beaker: benign by design society
Full text linkIn this work we discuss the necessity for Green Chemistry & Green Engineering to look out of the laboratory and consider the social aspects with greater attention to pursue peace and equality
The frontier of biobased polymers: Synthesis, characterization, application, and sustainability assessment
No full textThe “SQUIID claim”: A novel LCA-based indicator for food dishes
Full text linkMany studies aimed at estimating the environmental impacts associated with the food sector, but most of the existing developed indicators limited the problem only to the climate change, while it is well-known that the food sector may extend its influence on a wider spectrum of environmental categories. In this work, the Life Cycle Assessment was applied to a list of 1001 recipes for an Italian food canteen, prepared with more than 150 ingredients, with the purpose to develop a comprehensive environmental indicator (namely, SQUIID: Simplified Quantitative Impact Indicator for food Dishes). SQUIID includes in the evaluation the environmental categories showing a significant contribution (at least 86%) to the single score, i.e., global warming potential (GWP), particulate matter formation, land occupation, human non-carcinogenic toxicity and water consumption. The list of recipes was then analyzed under three perspectives: mass, GWP and SQUIID. The mass perspective indicates that the list of recipes contains a fairly balanced amount of ingredients, pointing out a remarkable diversification of the menu in the examined canteen. Concerning GWP and SQUIID spheres, meat-based and fish-based recipes resulted the main impacting ones (77% for the former and 73% for the latter), demonstrating to be the two classes mainly responsible for the environmental impacts observed, even if the vegetarian and vegan food dishes represent the 41% in mass. Meat-based dishes represent the 42% of the entire list of recipes in case of GWP, when adopting SQUIID, their overall contribution is reduced to the 35%. In fact, the main percentage of SQUIID is instead attributed to fish, raising from 31% (GWP) to 43%. Such variation demonstrated the relevance of the four additional selected categories for a final and comprehensive evaluation, proving that GWP-based indicators provide to the consumer only a partial representation of the environmental issue
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