Chemical Industry Going Green By the day

Recently, chemical industry leaders BASF and Dow Chemical Company have received recognition from the U.S. EPA’s annual Presidential Green Chemistry awards for creating economically viable and sustainable technologies. Specifically, Dow and BASF won the Greener Reaction Conditions Award for their joint development of an environmentally friendly process for producing propylene oxide via hydrogen peroxide, which reduces waste water by about 75% and energy use by 35%. In the past, BASF has won the award 3 times, Dow Chemical 6 times, and other leading companies such as Merck & Co. have also received this award.

You may be asking why this is important and what impact does it have at all in the chemical industry? True, receiving this award will not likely have a significant impact on the companies themselves; however, it serves as an indication as to the direction of the broader chemicals industry and helps rectify pervasive misinformation about the industry. If you were to ask the average individual what they imagine in association with the words ‘chemical industry’, they will likely imagine immense factories spewing endless amounts of smoke. However, people fail to realize that the interests of chemical companies often align with what is best for the environment. Most importantly, folks fail to recognize that chemistry is essential to modern life;… sectors like pharmaceuticals/healthcare, electronics, personal & beauty care, home and building material, battery and energy storage system etc. depend on the basic science of chemistry. Many innovations that stem from this mentality often end up being beneficial for the environment in terms of fewer by-products, less usage of oil and gas inputs, and more. I am not saying that chemical industry processes are good for the environment in general, but that there is a conscious effort within the industry to become as efficient as possible and minimize impacts to the environment.

In essence, the industry has been ‘going green’ per se, and this effort by leading companies to innovate so as to develop environmentally sustainable and benign processes and products is exactly the mentality required, and will ultimately lead to greater efficiency and more sustainable/consistent growth within the industry, given the proper investment into these novel ideas.