Background to Green Chemistry

The emergence of green chemistry has been one of the most significant developments in the chemical sciences in recent years.  The term is accepted worldwide as being synonymous with the development of more environmentally friendly and sustainable chemical products and processes.  Green chemistry has both very wide application and relevance, and this module provides the background information on the subject as well as introducing some key concepts.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this module you should be able to:

• Define the terms “green chemistry”, “green engineering” and “sustainable design”, and understand how they interrelate;
• Understand the definitions and applications of the twelve principles of green chemistry;
• Understand the economic, environmental and societal drivers for the implementation of greener methods;

and be aware of:

• The benefits of using catalytic and biocatalytic methods;
• The need for metrics to measure the greenness of a process.