We believe that sustainability begins at the very beginning. That is why we have adopted the 12 Principles of Green Chemistry as core principles for our R&D activities. These guiding principles keep us on the right path at the start of our journey by reducing the impact of our innovation activities and delivering new technology with more renewable content, fewer raw materials and reduced environmental impact. Our R&D teams strive to follow these 12 principles to minimize impact at the very start of our R&D processes for discovering our ground breaking technology.
- Prevention – Try not to make waste, then you do not have to clean it up.
- Atom economy – The final product should aim to contain all the atoms used in the process.
- Less hazardous chemical synthesis – Wherever it is possible, production methods should be designed to make substances that are less toxic to people or the environment.
- Designing safer chemicals – Chemical products should be designed to do their job with minimum harm to people or the environment.
- Safer solvents – When making materials try not to use solvents or other unnecessary chemicals. If they are needed then they should not be harmful to the environment in any way.
- Design for energy efficiency – The energy needed to carry out a reaction should be minimized to reduce environmental and economic impact. If possible, processes should be carried out at ambient temperatures and pressures.
- Use of renewable feedstocks – A raw material should be renewable wherever possible.
- Reduce derivatives – Try not to have too many steps in the reaction because this means more reagents are needed and more waste is made.
- Catalysis – Reactions that are catalyzed are more efficient than uncatalyzed reactions.
- Design for degradation – When chemical products are finished with, they should break down into substances that are not toxic and do not stay in the environment.
- Real-time analysis for pollution prevention – Methods need to be developed so that harmful products are detected before they are made.
- Inherently safer chemistry for accident prevention – Substances used in a chemical process should be chosen to minimize the risk of chemical accidents, including explosions and fire.
