Green Chemistry Blog

From chip fat to biofuel

15 Jul 2015

Abigail Hallowes writes about a hot Green Chemistry article for Chemistry World

Researchers from Singapore and China have developed a cheap and green catalytic system for turning fatty acids into fuel that doesn’t require hydrogen or a solvent.

Hydrocarbon biofuels made from waste fats and oils, such as leftover cooking oil could help reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Traditionally, these biofuels are synthesised by transesterifying lipids under harsh alkaline conditions; in addition to generating waste solvent, this technique does not remove enough oxygen, so the products are incompatible with diesel engines. The process also doesn’t work with fatty acids as they become soapy and deactivate the catalyst. Read the full article in Chemistry World»

Read the original journal article in Green Chemistry – it’s free to access until 17th August:
Effective deoxygenation of fatty acids over Ni(OAc)2 in the absence of H2 and solvent
Wenjing Li, Yongjun Gao, Siyu Yao, Ding Ma and Ning Yan
DOI: 10.1039/C5GC01147G, Paper

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Bread leavening proves useful for energy storage

14 Jul 2015

By Bethany Johnson.

Debbie Houghton writes about a hot Green Chemistry article for Chemistry World

Just like bread, hierarchically porous carbons (HPCs), are judged on their texture; so researchers in China have called on their baking know-how to cook up a sustainable method for producing these supercapacitor components.

HPCs could prove useful in energy storage because of their high surface area and short ion transport pathway. But existing synthetic methods for producing HPCs, including nanocasting and soft-templating, are unfeasible for industrial application as they require complex, expensive processes. Read the full article in Chemistry World»

Read the original journal article in Green Chemistry – it’s free to access until 3rd August:
Inspired by bread leavening: one-pot synthesis of hierarchically porous carbon for supercapacitors
Jiang Deng, Tianyi Xiong, Fan Xu, Mingming Li, Chuanlong Han, Yutong Gong, Haiyan Wang and Yong Wang
DOI: 10.1039/C5GC00523J, Pape

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Green Chemistry Strategies for Drug Discovery

13 Jul 2015

By Bethany Johnson.

It is rapidly becoming clear that by incorporating green chemistry techniques earlier in drug development, pharmaceutical companies can greatly speed the production of a drug candidate.

Integrating green chemistry protocol into the drug discovery discipline is a relatively new phenomenon, as the scale at which chemists operate in drug discovery is smaller than in process and manufacturing chemistry.

Written by experts pioneering green chemistry efforts within their own institutions, Green Chemistry Strategies for Drug Discovery provides a practical guide illustrating to both academic and industrial labs how to implement greener process approaches for the greatest return on their investment, and without slowing down their science.

The Editors have taken a comprehensive approach to this emerging field, covering the entire drug discovery process from molecule conception, through synthesis, formulation and toxicology, with specific examples and case studies where green chemistry strategies have been implemented. They also address cutting-edge topics like biologics discovery, continuous processing and intellectual property.

Green Chemistry Strategies for Drug Discovery is the newest publication in the RSC Drug Discovery series. Further details on the content and scope of this book can be found on its Books Publishing page. If you like what you read, Green Chemistry Strategies for Drug Discovery is available now as a hardback from our Royal Society of Chemistry Bookshop. It is also in our 2015 eBook collection.

Front cover of "Green Chemistry for Drug Discovery"

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Chip fat to biofuel made easy

09 Jul 2015

By Alice Jensen, Development Editor.

It is possible to synthesise hydrocarbon biofuel from waste fats and oils, such as cooking oils. Traditionally this process occurs with a catalyst under harsh alkaline conditions and in the presence of hydrogen. As a result, waste solvent is produced and not enough oxygen is removed for compatibility with diesel engines. In addition, with the presence of fatty acids the process does not work and the catalyst is deactivated.

In recent experiments, Ding Ma (Peking University) and Ning Yan (National University of Singapore), tested a series of nickel-based salts as pre-catalysits for deoxygenating fatty acids and triglycerides and forming shorter chain hydrocarbons, without the need for a solvent or hydrogen. The nickel nanoparticles that are formed act as a catalytic species and are stabilised by the presence of fatty acids. Although these preliminary results look promising, a lot more research into the applications and commercial viability of the findings are required.

Do you want to find out more?

Read the full Chemistry World article by Abigail Hallowes

Or, take a look at the original article which is free to access until 17th August 2015:

“Effective deoxygenation of fatty acids over Ni(OAc)₂ in the absence of H₂and solvent” by W. Li et al., DOI:10.1039/c5gc01147g

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Christian Stevens wins Emerging Technologies Competition 2015

09 Jul 2015

By Alice Jensen, Development Editor.

Green Chemistry Advisory Board member Christian Stevens has won first prize in the Energy & sustainability stream of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Emerging Technologies Competition 2015. In this third year of the competition, applications were also accepted from outside the UK which enabled Christian and Wouter Ducheyne, of Ghent University and Caloritum in Belgium, achieve this success.

Their winning technology is a ‘Chemical pump for recovery of industrial waste heat’ and was developed jointly by the University of Ghent and Caloritum. It is an industrial chemical heat pump that can recover waste heat between 75-150°C and increase this to a useful heat level of over 200°C. This is a bio-inspired technology, being based on the phosphate transfer in the ATP-ADP cycle that occurs in the human body. Addressing a problem that cost the EU over €52bn per year, the patented technology can be implemented in production processes ranging from the petrochemical industry to food production and power generation.

The Emerging Technologies Competition is the Royal Society of Chemistry’s flagship annual innovation event and saw thirty teams pitch their emerging technologies to experienced judging panels. There are three streams to the competition: Healthcare, Energy & sustainability, and Materials and the top three teams in each stream received a prize at the ceremony on Monday 29^th June 2015. First prize winners receive a cash prize of £20,000, a profile in Chemistry World magazine, and a personalised package of tailored business support from one or more of the competition partner companies – all of which are major multinationals (such as Croda, Procter & Gamble, Pfizer, GSK etc.) with considerable experience in bringing new products to market.

We would like to congratulate Christian Stevens and Wouter Ducheyne for achieving this accolade.

Pictured: Christian Stevens (left) and Wouter Ducheyne (right), pitching at the annual innovation event.

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New Green Chemistry Board Member: Martina Peters

08 Jul 2015

By Alice Jensen, Development Editor.

We are pleased to welcome Dr Martina Peters as a new Green Chemistry Editorial Board Member.

Martina Peters studied Chemistry at RWTH Aachen University in Germany and at the University of Colorado at Boulder, USA. She finished her PhD with Prof. Walter Leitner at RWTH Aachen University in 2008 and continued as PostDoc at the CAT Catalytic Center at RWTH Aachen. In 2010 she joined Bayer Technology Services as project manager, focusing on chemical utilization of CO2 as C1-building block for polymers. In 2012 she became head of “Chemical Catalysis” at Bayer Technology Services, a team providing chemical expertise for different areas of application within Bayer. Since mid-2014 Martina is a senior strategists at Bayer AG in the area of Technology and Manufacturing Strategy. In her free time she enjoys doing sports, especially mountain biking.

Take a look at some of her contributions to Royal Society of Chemistry Journals (free to access until 30th August 2015):

Life cycle assessment of CO2 capture and utilization: a tutorial review, Niklas von der Assen, Philip Voll, Martina Peters and André Bardow , Chem. Soc. Rev., 2014,43, 7982-7994, DOI: 10.1039/C3CS60373C

Screening of new solvents for artemisinin extraction process using ab initio methodology, Alexei A. Lapkin, Martina Peters, Lasse Greiner, Smain Chemat, Kai Leonhard, Marcel A. Liauw and Walter Leitner, Green Chem., 2010,12, 241-251, DOI: 10.1039/B922001A

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Plant waste solar panels

22 Jun 2015

By James Sherwood.

James Sherwood is a guest web-writer for Green Chemistry. James is a research associate in the Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence at the University of York. His interests range from the certification and application of bio-based products, to the understanding of solvent effects in organic synthesis.

A low cost, low energy route to solar grade silicon from rice hull ash (RHA), a sustainable source High purity silicon is essential for manufacturing solar panels. Unfortunately this prerequisite conversion of silica to elemental silicon requires a lot of energy, and the associated greenhouse gas emissions are significant. It has now been demonstrated that the ashes from burning biomass (rice hulls in this case) can provide a rich source of silica than can be reduced to give solar grade silicon.

For the preparation of the silica from rice hull ash only dilute acid and hot water are required. The energy requirement to then produce 99.9999% pure silicon is an order of magnitude less than the conventional process and is actually lower than the energy created by burning the rice hulls in the first place. As the carbon dioxide generated by burning biomass is originally fixed from the atmosphere by plants, the carbon footprint for the production of this sustainable silicon is very low.

Read the advanced article in Green Chemistry online now:

A low cost, low energy route to solar grade silicon from rice hull ash (RHA), a sustainable source

Julien C. Marchal, David J. Krug III, Patrick McDonnell, Kai Sun and Richard M. Laine

Green Chem., 2015, Advance Article. DOI: 10.1039/C5GC00622H

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Green Chemistry leads the field with Impact Factor of 8.02

19 Jun 2015

By Ruth Norris, Managing Editor.

We are delighted to announce that Green Chemistry’s Impact Factor* has risen to a new high of 8.02.

This fantastic achievement secures the journal’s position as the #1 home for the green chemistry community, and as the highest impact journal publishing on sustainable chemistry and technology.

The journal and its stellar Editorial Board continue to lead the field, publishing innovative research with a wide general appeal.

A huge thank you goes to all of our authors, referees and Board members for their continued help and support, and we invite you to submit your next high quality paper to Green Chemistry.

Check out the following selection of highly cited articles that contributed to this Impact Factor:

Transition metal based catalysts in the aerobic oxidation of alcohols

Camilla Parmeggiani and Francesca Cardona

DOI: 10.1039/C2GC16344F

Deconstruction of lignocellulosic biomass with ionic liquids

Agnieszka Brandt, John Gräsvik, Jason P. Hallett and Tom Welton

DOI: 10.1039/C2GC36364J

Selective oxidation of alcohols and aldehydes over supported metal nanoparticles

Sara E. Davis, Matthew S. Ide and Robert J. Davis

DOI: 10.1039/C2GC36441G

Gamma-valerolactone, a sustainable platform molecule derived from lignocellulosic biomass

David Martin Alonso, Stephanie G. Wettstein and James A. Dumesic

DOI: 10.1039/C3GC37065H

Multicomponent reactions in unconventional solvents: state of the art

Yanlong Gu

DOI: 10.1039/C2GC35635J

*The Impact Factor provides an indication of the average number of citations per paper. Produced annually, Impact Factors are calculated by dividing the number of citations in a year by the number of citeable articles published in the preceding two years. Data based on 2014 Journal Citation Reports®, (Thomson Reuters, 2015).

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Poster Prizes at the 3rd International Symposium on Green Chemistry

10 Jun 2015

By Alice Jensen, Development Editor.

The 3rd International Symposium on Green Chemistry (ISGC) took place on 3rd-7th May in La Rochelle, France. This was sponsored by Green Chemistry and a number of poster prizes were awarded by Green Chemistry Advisory Board member Professor Robin Rogers of McGill University, Canada and Dr Francois Jerome, University of Poitiers, France.

The first prize was awarded to Ana Franco of the University of Cordoba in Spain for her poster ‘Waste to materials: synthesis and applications of mesoporous silicates from rice husk‘. Felix Aremando Reano, of Chaire ABI – AgroParisTech, France, received the second prize for his poster ‘Determination of antioxidant activity of new biobased macrobisphenols‘, and Clemence Queffélec, University of Nantes, France, was awarded the third prize his poster ‘Hydrothermal liquefaction as a route to transform microalgae residues in bio-asphalt‘.

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A photochemical method for separating rare earth metals

29 May 2015

By Alice Jensen, Development Editor.

Rare earth metals are notoriously hard to separate from one another, due to the similarity of their chemical properties. At present, the complex series of solvent extraction steps to extract rare earths from their ores are only carried out in China. With their increasing utilisation in modern technologies, scientists have been collaborating to develop cleaner less intensive methods of rare earth separation.

Tom Van Gerven and Koen Binnemans of the University of Leuven in Belgium have worked together to combine their expertise and develop a photochemical method for extracting the europium and yttrium from an ionic liquid solution. Both elements are present in their trivalent state, but if europium absorbs light of the correct wavelength (provided by a low pressure mercury lamp) it will reduce to the divalent state and be precipitated out.

Want to know more?

Read the full article in Chemistry World by Jonathan Midgley.

Or, take a look at the original article which is free to access until 8th July 2015:

“Photochemical recycling of europium from Eu/Y mixtures in red lamp phosphor waste streams” by B Van den Bogaert et al., DOI:10.1039/c4gc02140a

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Green Chemistry Blog

From chip fat to biofuel

Bread leavening proves useful for energy storage

Green Chemistry Strategies for Drug Discovery

Chip fat to biofuel made easy

Christian Stevens wins Emerging Technologies Competition 2015

New Green Chemistry Board Member: Martina Peters

Plant waste solar panels

Green Chemistry leads the field with Impact Factor of 8.02

Poster Prizes at the 3rd International Symposium on Green Chemistry

A photochemical method for separating rare earth metals

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