Page 277 - Design for Environment A Guide to Sustainable Product Development

Chemical Industries 253

The following set of fundamental design principles for green
chemistry was articulated by Paul Anastas and John Warner [2]:
1. Prevention—It is better to prevent waste than to treat or
clean up waste after it has been created.
2. Atom Economy—Synthetic methods should be designed to
maximize the incorporation of all materials used in the pro-
cess into the final product.
3. Less Hazardous Chemical Syntheses—Wherever practica-
ble, synthetic methods should be designed to use and gener-
ate substances that possess little or no toxicity to human health
and the environment.
4. Designing Safer Chemicals—Chemical products should be
designed to effect their desired function while minimizing
their toxicity.
5. Safer Solvents and Auxiliaries—The use of auxiliary sub-
stances (e.g., solvents, separation agents, etc.) should be made
unnecessary wherever possible and innocuous when used.
6. Design for Energy Efficiency—Energy requirements of chem-
ical processes should be recognized for their environmental
and economic impacts and should be minimized. If possible,
synthetic methods should be conducted at ambient tempera-
ture and pressure.
7. Use of Renewable Feedstocks—A raw material or feedstock
should be renewable rather than depleting whenever techni-
cally and economically practicable.
8. Reduce Derivatives—Unnecessary derivatization (use of block-
ing groups, protection/deprotection, temporary modification
of physical/chemical processes, etc.) should be minimized or
avoided if possible because such steps require additional re -
agents and can generate waste.
9. Catalysis—Catalytic reagents (as selective as possible) are
superior to stoichiometric reagents.
10. Design for Degradation—Chemical products should be de -
signed so that at the end of their function they break down
into innocuous degradation products and do not persist in
the environment.
11. Real-time Analysis for Pollution Prevention—Analytical
methodologies need to be further developed to allow for real-
time, in-process monitoring and control prior to the forma-
tion of hazardous substances.
12. Inherently Safer Chemistry for Accident Prevention—Sub-
stances and the form of a substance used in a chemical pro-
cess should be chosen to minimize the potential for chemical
accidents, including releases, explosions, and fires.