Page 278 - Design for Environment A Guide to Sustainable Product Development

254 Cha pte r T h i r tee n

Every year, chemical companies and collaborating researchers
vie for the coveted Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards,
which recognize outstanding chemical technologies that incorporate
the principles of green chemistry into chemical design, manufacture,
and use (see Figure 13.2). Examples of past award winners include
the following:

• Biobased toner. Laser printers and copiers use over 400 mil-
lion pounds of toner each year in the United States. Tradi-
tional toners fuse so tightly to paper that they are difficult to
remove from waste paper for recycling. They are also made
from petroleum-based starting materials. Battelle and its
partners, Advanced Image Resources and the Ohio Soybean
Council, developed a soy-based toner that performs as well
as traditional ones, but is much easier to remove. The new
toner technology can save significant amounts of energy and
allow more paper fiber to be recycled.
• Climate-friendly foam. Foam cushioning used in furniture
or bedding is made from polyurethane, a man-made material.
One of the two chemical building blocks used to make poly-
urethane are polyols, which are conventionally manufactured

FIGURE 13.2 Presidential
Green Chemistry Challenge
Awards.