Objective
A. GENERAL BACKGROUND
A1: Why a COST Action on this topic
The various industries utilising chemistry and chemical engineering are one of the major contributors to contemporary economic developments worldwide. Although the chemical industry has an impressive record of improvements in waste treatment and abatement, the chemical industry is frequently viewed as the cause of many environmental problems. Worldwide demand for environmentally friendly chemical processes and products requires the development of novel and cost-effective approaches to pollution prevention. One of the most attractive concepts for pollution prevention is sustainable/green chemistry. This new approach is aimed to prevent the creation of hazardous wastes, so as to avoid the arduous and costly ordeal of pollution treatment and disposal. Pollution prevention is one of the most important priorities of the chemical industry worldwide.
In recognising the concept of sustainable/green chemistry as a new and important scientific frontier, the Action will provide a unique opportunity for European experts to establish a common understanding of the current status and the future R&D needs of Sustainable/Green Chemistry and Chemical Technology for Europe, which will lead to the development of sustainable industrial chemicals and chemical based consumer products utilising sustainable and environmentally friendly processes. The benefit to the European governmental institutions is that this Action will lead to a precise definition of the subject matter leading to a much more efficient expenditure of research funding. The benefit to the chemical industry is that research efforts will be initiated in developing new, alternative processes and products to the currently used commercial processes and products of
most concern. The benefit to academicians in chemistry and chemical engineering departments is that they will be able to focus their research on areas that are most useful to the chemical industry and society. The benefit to the society in general is the evolution of an increasingly competitive chemical industry utilising state-of-the-art technologies for the production of environmentally friendly products. Finally, the benefit to the chemical community is that after the vigorous and successful use of the sustainable/green chemistry concepts the chemical discipline will regain a positive public image.
A2: Status of the research in the field
The field of Sustainable/Green Chemistry and Chemical Technology is at a rapidly growing stage of development. The most important areas include renewable feedstock utilisation, replacement of stoichiometric reagents with selective catalysts, safer chemicals and processes, sustainable/green solvents and reaction media, and sustainable/green synthetic methods.
Biomass offers a renewable and sustainable source of raw materials in polymeric (cellulose, chitin, starch, lignin, proteins) and monomeric (sugars, amino acids, lipids) form, which aside its traditional uses (food, lumber, paper, heating) has the potential to replace non-renewable fossil raw materials (oil, coal, natural gas) in the generation of a large variety of industrial products, i.e. bulk-, intermediate-, fine- or speciality-chemicals, pharmaceuticals and organic materials. Although such bio-based products are environmentally more friendly than those derived from petroleum-based feedstocks, they are, as of now, considerably more expensive to produce due to the lack of practical and efficient process methodologies. Thus, the huge potential lying in renewable feedstocks is largely untapped. While biomass has increasingly been used for the generation of transportation fuel ("biodiesel"), innovative and competitive applications of bio-based feedstocks for the production of chemicals and organic materials are slow to emerge due to the complex nature of biomass and the lack of practical, efficient, large scale-adaptable procedures for transformation into industrial products. Because of this unfavourable situation for biomass-derived products the chemical industry, as of now, has a wait-and-see attitude instead of systematically exploiting biofeedstocks as their future basis for raw materials.
Since 90% of the commercial chemical processes are catalytic, the development of novel catalysts with very high activity and selectivity (e.g. very high yield) has been one of the key components of sustainable/green chemistry and chemical technology. While the application of single site homogeneous transition metal catalysts for olefin based catalytic processes is at a well advanced state, the development of environmentally friendly catalysts for the functionalisation of alkanes and for the formation of carbon-carbon, carbon-nitrogen, and carbon-oxygen bonds is still rather slow. While various approaches have been demonstrated for facile product-catalyst separation for homogeneous catalysts, only handful commercial processes have been developed.
In chemical processes, an aqueous environment is considered to be environmentally friendly. Nature has developed enzymatic catalysis under physiological conditions, i.e. in aqueous media under ambient conditions. Several enzyme-catalysed processes are now known to occur via organometallic intermediates, the related chemical area may now be called bioorganometallic chemistry. The occurrence of organometallic species in natural, enzymatic processes concerns such important areas, as hydrocarbon functionalisation (e.g. cytochromes P450, methane mono-oxygenase), refunctionalisation reactions (B12-dependent enzymatic reactions), carbon dioxide fixation (in anaerobic bacteria, via the acetyl coenzyme A pathway), methane formation (in methanogenic bacteria) and a series of other bioorganometallic processes, that frequently occur in anaerobes and exploring radical pathways. The application of enzymes in the production of fine chemicals is also rapidly increasing.
Environmentally benign and safe to handle solids are being developed to replace homogeneous and liquid catalysts and reagents for liquid phase organic reactions as well as other applications including trapping and transport. Structured mesoporous solids including hybrid inorganic-organic materials are proving to be particularly popular. The solids can be used in particulate or palletised forms, or fixed on catalytic plates and membranes. Separation problems that commonly lead to large volumes of hazardous waste and inefficient use of resources are alleviated. The heterogeneous materials can be used in batch reactions or in continuous systems. Stable solid acids and bases and immobilised metals are now available as are an increasing number of organically modified high surface area inorganic materials with numerous application possibilities. The rate of discovery of new materials is greater than reports on their application and rapid screening techniques and more application orientated materials design will be required to enhance the rate of their uptake.
The field of sustainable/green solvents is extremely active, particularly in the areas of aqueous, ionic, and fluorous liquids as well as supercritical fluids. Although EU scientists have occupied leading positions in these fields, there is increasing competition from North America and the Far East. Supercritical fluids, particularly supercritical CO2, are already well established as a commercial technology for environmentally benign extraction of foodstuffs, flavourings and fragrances. There are several EU chemical plant manufacturers with leading technology in these areas.
While the development of novel synthetic methods has been one of the key objectives of contemporary research in chemistry, most of the research is "product" driven with limited or no consideration of the potential environmental impacts of the reaction conditions, solvents, and reagents. These have bee started to change in the last five years and more and more studies incorporate sustainable/green principles including better energy efficiency and atom economy. It should be also noted, that many new discoveries could already be considered sustainable/green or could be made sustainable/green by small modifications.
Green Chemistry has been recognised and widely used as an effective tool for disseminating the concept of sustainability in chemistry in the USA and Japan. International organisations, such as OECD and IUPAC, have recently been developing new programs and projects as well. Although there are national initiatives in green chemistry in several European countries, these programs have limited coordination and visibility.
A3: Relationship with other European Programmes
Several conference series, both on a world wide international scale, with significant European participation, and on the European level have been set up since the early 90's to encourage scientific exchange in the field of sustainable/green chemistry and chemical technology. These are:
(i) Annual Green Chemistry and Engineering Conferences, (Washington, D.C. USA, 2001)
(ii) International Conference "Challenging Perspectives in Green Chemistry", Venice, 1997
(iii) IUPAC International Symposium on Green Chemistry (Delhi, India, 2001)
(iv) Green Chemistry: Sustainable Products and Processes (Swansea, Wales, 2001)
(v) Royal Society of Chemistry in Green Chemistry Conference
(vi) High Pressure Chemical Engineering (Venice 2002)
(vii) Gordon Research Conferences on Green Chemistry (Oxford, UK, 2002)
(viii) European Summer School on Green Chemistry, http://helios.unive.it/inca/formazione/summer/index.html
(ix) IUPAC Workshop on Education in Green Chemistry, http://helios.unive.it/inca/iupac_workshop
(x) OECD Programs and Conferences on Sustainable Chemistry
Collaboration with industry via organisations such as SUSTECH, CEFIC, and the European networks that are already operational on this topic such as The inter-university Consortium Chemistry for the Environment (Venice, Italy) and the Green Chemistry Network (York, UK) is expected as well.
B: OBJECTIVES OF THE ACTION AND SCIENTIFIC CONTENT
B1: Main Objective
The main objective of the Action is to develop sustainable industrial chemicals and chemical based consumer products utilising sustainable and environmentally friendly processes.
The main objective will be achieved by (1) providing a mechanism to establish a common understanding of the current status and the future research, development, and educational needs of Sustainable/Green Chemistry and Chemical Technology for Europe; (2) establishing and managing a selection process for identifying potential industrial chemicals and chemical based consumer products that could be considered sustainable/green according to information available at the time of the selection; and (3) co-ordinating new joint research efforts for designing and developing environmentally friendly processes for the production of such sustainable/green products.
In order to minimise potential overlaps and utilise the knowledge base and new results of currently running COST Actions, working groups from other Actions will be asked to contribute and/or consult with the new working groups of this Action.
This Action will also address key issues concerning the development of an integrated European education program on Sustainable/Green Chemistry and Chemical Technology.
While the detailed scientific program will depend on the projects submitted, there is a will to encourage participation in certain priority areas, which appear to be of particular importance for the progress of the field. These priority areas are outlined in the sub-topics.
As a consequence of this Action is expected a substantial development of Sustainable/Green Chemistry and Chemical Technology.
B2: Sub-Topics
1. Renewable Feedstock Utilisation
Fossil raw materials are irrevocably decreasing and their replacement by renewable feedstocks emerge as an urgent necessity for industry in general, and for the chemical industry, in particular. This challenge can only be met by systematically exploiting the vast biofeedstocks which Nature graciously provides us on an annual basis, through broad-scale basic research towards the development of efficient, environmentally benign and economical process methodologies for the large-scale conversion of biomass (carbohydrates, proteins, fats, terpenoids) into industrially viable products, such as bulk and intermediate chemicals, pharmaceuticals and polymeric organic materials. In this endeavour, national and supranational funding institutions - in Europe the EU most notably - will have to play an active role, not only by funding corresponding activities in a broad time frame (5 - 10 years), but by elaborating a concise long-term strategy that takes root in academia and chemical industry. The basic strategy should not be directed at the generation of the very same basic chemicals that are well accessible from petrochemical sources, but towards the development of products with analogous industrial application profiles, with as little alteration of the structural framework of biomass as possible. Only then economically sound alternatives to petrochemicals will become available.
2.Sustainable Product Design
The potential environmental and health hazards of both industrial chemicals and chemical based consumer products should be treated as intrinsic properties and should be minimised during design. First of all, the molecular level understanding of the relationship between structure and toxicity of chemicals is the only approach to design less or ideally non-toxic products. While decreasing the intrinsic toxicity of chemical based consumer products should be the primary focus, understanding the toxicity of secondary degradation products generated after their use should be also considered.
Another approach to increase the sustainability of both industrial chemicals and chemical based consumer products is the minimisation of materials needed to achieve the same performance. Therefore the fundamental understanding of achieving the same or better product performance with less material (e.g. thinner polymers, higher biological activity, better stability, etc.) should be developed.
2.1.Recyclable Products
The development of recyclable chemical based consumer products could significantly reduce the use of virgin raw materials in the chemical and allied industries and lower the amount waste generated. The key challenge in this area is to develop a molecular level understanding of the relationship between the structure and the recyclability of the product without compromising the performance of the product. For example, the introduction of molecular functionalities (or switches) that would be resting during the normal use of the product but could be turned on during the recycling processes is an attractive approach for consideration.
2.2.Biodegradable Products
If the development of recyclable chemical based consumer products is limited by the intrinsic nature of the chemical used, the replacement of components of the products that are persistent with biodegradable chemicals should be preferred. While the intrinsic biodegradability of chemical based consumer products should be the primary focus, understanding the biodegradability of secondary degradation products generated after their use should be also considered.
2.3.Safer Materials
The prevention of accidents involving chemicals has traditionally been considered as an engineering issue. The accidental potentials of chemicals can alternatively be approached using molecular engineering by selecting inherently safer chemicals and reaction types during the design of sustainable/green processes. For example, the replacement of hazardous liquid and/or soluble acids and bases including AlCl3, BF3, HF, H2SO4, NaOH and NaOEt in organic reactions and other applications with user-friendly solids that are based on oxides, carbons and biomaterials is an important area of research.
3.Enabling Chemical and Technological Tools for Sustainable Process Design, Development, and Integration
After the selection of the target sustainable/green industrial chemical or chemical based consumer product, each working group will design and develop a sustainable/green process for the production of such product. During the design stage the working groups should utilise already existing knowledge including chemical and technological tools that could be considered sustainable/green. Consequently, a close collaboration with some of the working groups of currently running Actions will be required and assisted by this Action. It should be emphasised, that research activities will also be directed towards the design and development of new sustainable/green chemical and technological tools if the available tools cannot be considered sustainable/green. The potential collaborations with working groups of currently running Actions are marked within the text by their identification numbers.
3.1.Synthetic Methods and Routes
The sustainability of the chemical enterprise clearly depends whether the vast variety of products could be manufactured in a way that will use less and less toxic substances and will not generate large volume of waste. The scientific challenges are included in the development of novel synthetic methods that are using environmentally friendly feedstocks, reagents and most preferably catalysts
(D12, D15, D17, D24, D25). In particular, atom economical reactions could maximise the molecular efficiency during transformations and minimise the generation of waste and unwanted by-products. The combined application of computational chemistry with high through put testing (D16) could significantly increase the effectiveness of research. The successful development of a wide variety of sustainable/green synthetic methods must be incorporated to novel synthetic routes targeting complex molecules.
3.2.Sustainable/Green Catalysis
Sustainable/green catalysis could have a key role in maximising atom efficiency and process simplicity for the manufacture of fine, speciality and pharmaceutical chemicals and materials. In the area of homogeneous catalysis the integration of single site catalysis with facile catalyst separation should be the primary focus of future research activities (D10). The design of novel catalysts with preferential solubility in sustainable/green solvents could result in commercially attractive catalytic systems (D10). The effective utilisation of enzymes in novel chemical transformations should be another important objective of sustainable/green catalyst development (D25). The application of the fundamental understanding of the mechanisms of enzymatic reactions in the design of biomimetic analogous could lead to new and effective catalytic systems. Finally, the development of single site heterogeneous catalysts (e.g. uniform site selectivity and activity) (D15) could be another approach to secure sustainable/green industrial catalysts. The incorporation of molecular level shape selectivity in all classes of catalysts could open the way to substrate selective conversion of complex materials including oil-based and/or renewable raw materials. Since most of the chemicals that contains chiral centres could interact with our environment, the application (D24, D25) and/or design and synthesis of chiral catalysts should be also included. In order to achieve these objectives, the application and further development of in situ spectroscopy should proceed simultaneously with catalyst development. In addition to the development of novel catalytic materials, addressing the engineering and commercialisation issues should also be incorporated. For example, the design and testing of catalytic reactors suitable for (semi-) continuous processing of fine, speciality and pharmaceutical chemicals.
3.3.Sustainable/Green Reaction Media
There are major opportunities to extend the use of water as a solvent for organic reactions, both at ambient and elevated temperatures (D10). It should be important to demonstrate the viability both commercial and technical of processes based on fluorous and ionic liquids as well as supercritical fluids (D10, D12). Key questions include reaction modelling, scale-up rules and reactor engineering. At the same time there is a need for increased understanding on a molecular level of reactions in these media and how, if at all, the reaction mechanisms differ from those in more conventional media. The most challenging problem with supercritical CO2 is to develop chemistries, which will allow CO2 to be used as both solvent and as feedstock for the generation of higher value chemicals. There is also a need to develop "greener" organic solvents, which can be derived from renewable feedstocks or can be designed at the molecular level to have reduced environmental impact.
3.4.Energy efficiency
Most of the conventional methods for making and/or breaking chemical bonds as well as transforming materials are energy intensive and consequently have negative environmental impacts. The application (D10) and development of effective ways of using energy could result in major environmental and financial benefits.
3.5.Engineering
In order to facilitate the commercialisation of novel sustainable/green chemical products and processes, the engineering aspects should be addressed from the beginning of the research activities. Giving ownership to engineers in the development process at the very early stage could significantly lower the traditional barriers for introducing sustainable/green chemicals and processes into the conventional and profit oriented chemical industry. Therefore, each working group should be required to include one or two engineers in the project.
3.6.Safety and Safer Processes
The ultimate safety of a new chemical process should be considered at the design stage of the chemistry to be utilised. Of course, the selection of inherently safer chemicals and reaction types operating at mild process conditions could lead to the development of much safer processes. The continuous improvement of currently used analytical techniques and the development of new analytical methods are crucial to monitor chemical processes and ensure high level safety.
4.Life Cycle Assessment and Quantification of Sustainability
The tools of Life Cycle assessment (LCA) should be used for assessing the environmental performance of new products and processes from "cradle to grave", i.e. from exploration/mining of raw materials to their extraction, transport, use and final disposal. A methodology for combining LCA with the activities of each working group is proposed, with the main aim of identifying the stages in the new technology life cycle with the impact on the environment and then re-focussing on these stages to minimise the impact.
C: ORGANIZATIONS, MANAGEMENT AND RESPONSIBILITIES
C1: Organisation and Management
The Action will be structured as previous COST Chemistry Actions including a Management Committee with a president and a vice-president operating under the general direction of the Technical Committee. Research projects fitting in the topics listed above will be submitted to the Management Committee for evaluation and after approval will be managed by a project leader selected by the members of the working groups.
C2: Responsibilities
The Management Committee has responsibilities for:
1. Developing and analysing an on-line questioner on the current status of Sustainable/Green Chemistry and Chemical Technology in Europe in the first two months.
2. Start of the activity, which includes coordinating the kick-off workshop, advertising the new Action across Europe, and drawing up the inventory during the first year.
3. Evaluation of the incoming applications by a peer review system.
4. Co-ordination of the joint activities with other COST Actions, CEFIC Sustech Clusters; joint meetings are likely results from this activity.
5. Explore the possibilities for wider participation and exchange of information with EU-specific programmes, ESF, EUREKA, etc.
6. Planning the intermediate report, the final report, and the concluding symposium.
C3: Evaluation of Progress
The progress of the Action will be monitored by the number of responses of the on-line questioner for the kick-off workshop and by brief annual reports from each of the participating scientists. The reports will describe the results of research obtained through concerted actions. The Management Committee will prepare a milestone report after 2 years of joint activities. The report will be presented to the COST Technical Committee for Chemistry for review and to the COST Senior Officials Committee for information. A final report will be published to inform non-participating scientists and researchers interested in the results about the scientific accomplishments of the Action. It is expected that additional evaluations will be provided by the participants describing the progress made including a brief evaluation of participating scientists and engineers.
D: TIMETABLE
D.1. Scientific programme
The Action is organised according to the Rules and procedures for implementing COST actions (R&P - COST 400/94). This entail establishing a Management Committee for the Action with responsibilities as outlined in R&P (vide supra). The Management Committee utilises one of the participating research institutions to administrate the financial details of the Short-term Scientific Missions (STSMs).
Working groups will be established on the basis of applications submitted by European research teams. Selection will be according to the objectives outlined above, with a special emphasis on the interdisciplinary nature of the subject matter. For cases where two or more teams propose working groups in overlapping areas, the Management Committee should investigate the possibilities of establishing a joint working group.
The detailed scientific program will depend on the projects submitted by individual research teams. In the early stage of this Action, the Management Committee will look for possible research themes where a concentrated effort is justified. If necessary, the Management Committee will try to encourage further applications for working groups in such areas.
After approximately one year of the working group activities, the Management Committee should review the results obtained in Actions D10, D12, D15, D16, D24, and D25 to determine whether the activities under those Actions have produced technical advances or new insights which could be of interest to the this Action. If such could be found, the two Management Committees should organise a joint symposium between the working groups of these actions
D.2. Timetable
The programme will cover five years and consists of the following stages:
Stage 1: Establishment of the Management Committee. Preparation of networks on subtopics of the action. Request to European scientists and engineers to provide input through an on-line questioner. Tabulation of the answers prior of the kick-off workshop and dissemination of the results to the participants.
Stage 2. The organisation of a two-day kick-off workshop followed by the first meeting of the Management Committee. In order to use the time of the participants of the kick-off workshop most effectively, the first day of the workshop will be used for discussing the sub-topics of Sustainable/Green Chemistry and Chemical Technology in sub-groups. Each sub-group will prepare a summary during the evening of the first day and report back to the workshop on the morning session of the second day. The afternoon session of the second day will be used to develop the final conclusion and future R&D needs. Preparation of the summary and the final text of "call for applications". Establishment of a dedicated website for the Action.
Stage 3. Call for applications and the evaluation and approval of initial applications.
Stage 4. This will cover year 2, 3, and 4 including additional project applications, evaluation and approval. Meetings will be organised annually, possibly in conjunction with other Actions. A report will be prepared by the Management Committee after each meeting. An international midterm evaluation workshop will be organised.
Stage 5. The final phase will start in the 5th year and will involve the evaluation of the obtained results and the preparation of a possible development of future actions. A final evaluation meeting will close the Action.
E: DURATION OF THIS ACTION
The Action will last for five years. This estimate is based on previous experience with international collaboration in projects involving joint research efforts for designing and developing chemical processes for the production of high added value or large scale products, and allowing for the cross-methodical focus of this action. In the context of complex chemical approach considered here, five years may be somewhat short for some of the projects, however, it is a task for the Management Committee to establish and initiate networks and to scale the ambitions of the working groups within the available timeframe.
F: ECONOMIC DIMENSIONS OF THE ACTION
It is estimated that at least 21 countries will apply for admission to the new COST Action. The 21 countries have actively participated in the preparation of the Action or otherwise indicated their interest
On the basis of national estimates provided by the representatives of these countries, the overall cost of the activities to be carried out under the Action has been estimated, in 2001 prices at roughly 70 million Euro. Any departure from the participation assumption will change the total cost accordingly.
F1.Personnel costs
The total human efforts in the Action as described in this document, amounts to 600 man-years (120 researchers during 5 years), being equivalent to 60 million Euro.
Estimates of personnel costs (research and administration) will depend on the rates applicable to various EU countries. Based on the expected number of participating countries of 21, a total estimate 60 million Euro is expected.
F2. Operational and running costs
The estimate of the total operational and running costs including costs of instruments and materials is 10 million Euro.
G: DISSEMINATION OF SCIENTIFIC RESULTS
All publications arising from research carried out under COST Action D29 will credit COST support and the Management Committee will encourage and promote all co-authored papers. Results of research carried out by the working groups under COST Action D29 will be submitted to international scientific journals and reviews.
In addition, Prof. Josef Michl, the Editor of Chemical Reviews, has agreed to publish the summary of the kick-off workshop provided a successful review process was completed. It is strongly believed that publishing the summary in the most cited and respected review journal in the field of chemistry, the conclusions will reach the broadest audience possible and demonstrate the leading position of European scientists and engineers in sustainable/green chemistry and chemical technology in the global community.
Joint meetings among different working groups in COST Action D29 and with working groups from other COST Actions will be organised so as to best promote interdisciplinary communication and integrate results and new discoveries.
The Management Committee in conjunction with the working groups of the Action will meet every year with the main aim of presenting results to the Management Committee as a whole, where possible, the Management Committee will invite potential users and interested parties to this meetings.
The Management Committee will also set up a work-plan for interdisciplinary events for the dissemination of results of the COST Action D29.
Additional dissemination will include posting the most important findings of the workshop on various web sites d