RSC Sustainability Blog

Review articles are a great way to expand your knowledge of different areas of research, but Tutorial Reviews are specifically designed to act as a first introduction to a specific research topic.

Whether it is bringing you up to speed on the challenges of solving a particular issue, or on the advantages and disadvantages of a certain experimental technique, they should be your first port of call when you want to read up on a field you are not familiar with.

Since launching in 2022, RSC Sustainability has published several Tutorial Reviews that are sure to be of value to anyone seeking to learn more about the role the chemical sciences can play in addressing sustainability challenges. If you haven’t checked them out yet, we’d like to highlight some of them here

Replacing all petroleum-based chemical products with natural biomass-based chemical products: a tutorial review

Ryohei Mori, RSC Sustain., 2023, 1, 179-212

In this review, Ryohei Mori discusses the ambitious goal of eliminating all products derived from petroleum feedstocks. By taking a comprehensive view of biomass derived plastics, Mori demonstrates the variety of everyday consumer products that could be made from sustainable and biodegradable materials.

A guide to lignin valorization in biorefineries: traditional, recent, and forthcoming approaches to convert raw lignocellulose into valuable materials and chemicals

Filippo Brienza, David Cannella, Diego Montesdeoca, Iwona Cybulska and Damien P. Debecker, RSC Sustain., 2024, 2, 37-90

Lignin and cellulose are the most common sources of renewable biomass in the world. As such, there is a lot of interest in whether these can be used as sources of fine and bulk chemicals that have traditionally been produced from petroleum. This Tutorial Review introduces the properties of these biomass sources and the existing methods of treating and refining them into useful products.

From rocks to bioactive compounds: a journey through the global P(v) organophosphorus industry and its sustainability

Sosthène P.-M. Ung and Chao-Jun Li, RSC Sustain., 2023, 1, 11-37

This review introduces the field of organophosphorus chemistry and discusses the challenges associated with the methods currently used to obtain phosphorus. The review rounds off by presenting some more sustainable alternatives.

A tutorial review for research laboratories to support the vital path toward inherently sustainable and green synthetic chemistry

Sarah M. Kernaghan, Tracey Coady, Michael Kinsella and Claire M. Lennon, RSC Sustain., 2024, 2, 578-607

This review introduces concepts and metrics that synthetic chemists can use to make their own practices cleaner and more sustainable. For example, have you ever done a life cycle assessment of your reactions where you consider the source of all your reagents and the environmental impact of the waste products you dispose of?

Sustainability applications of rare earths from metallurgy, magnetism, catalysis, luminescence to future electrochemical pseudocapacitance energy storage

Shan-Shan Chai, Wei-Bin Zhang, Jing-Lei Yang, Lun Zhang, Myat Myintzu Theint, Xian-Li Zhang, Shao-Bo Guo, Xia Zhou and Xue-Jing Ma, RSC Sustain., 2023, 1, 38-71

This review introduces Rare Earth elements and their applications in a variety of fields, including their potential uses as sustainable energy storage materials that could be used as alternatives to Li-ion batteries.

We hope you find these Tutorial Reviews interesting. You can explore all the review content published by RSC Sustainability, including other Tutorial Reviews as well as our other review type articles, in our ongoing reviews web collection.

If you would like to contribute a review article to RSC Sustainability, please send a review proposal to our Editorial Office.

RSC Sustainability is pleased to announce 3 brand new Themed Collections that are open for submissions from 30th October 2023:

1. Energy Materials Redesign, Reuse and Repurpose
2. CO2 Conversion
3. Circular Economy

These collections cover key areas within sustainable chemistry that will be critical to achieving a sustainable future. Each collection is Guest Edited by a member of RSC Sustainability‘s Editorial Board and other leaders in the field. Work that falls within the scope of any of these collections and meets the general requirements for publication in RSC Sustainability is welcomed for consideration.

Energy Materials Redesign, Reuse and Repurpose

Guest Editors: Cristina Pozo-Gonzalo, Bethan Charles, Xiaolei Wang, Erlantz Lizundia

Submission deadline: 30th April 2024

Themed Collection shortcode: SUEnMat24

This collection welcomes submissions on the following topics:

Extraction and separation of critical metals from end-of-life products using selective and sustainable methods (e.g. leaching, electroleaching, membranes, electrowinning)

Recycling of lithium-ion batteries, including developing more efficient methods, and improvements through a sustainability lens (e.g. less solvent usage, milder conditions, economically improved processes)

Recovery of precious, critical and in-demand metals from waste electronics, and industrial waste streams

Solar panel recycling.

Life cycle assessment and sustainability analysis of energy materials recycling.

Waste management and policy, including developing initiatives to promote energy materials recycling.

Advances in green hydrometallurgy, bioleaching and direct recycling.

Selective extraction from spent batteries.

Repurpose: Upcycling spent batteries for catalytic, waste-water and other emerging applications.

CO2 Conversion

Guest Editors: Haichao Liu, Carlos Alemán, John Mondal, Xiao Jiang

Submission Deadline: 14th May 2024

Themed Collection shortcode: SUCO224 

The RSC Sustainability CO₂ Conversion themed collection seeks to publish work on the following topics:

• Catalytic conversion of CO₂, to value-added chemicals or fuels.
• Electrochemical conversion of CO₂
• Photochemical conversion of CO₂
• Biological conversion of CO₂ using algae or bacteria

We welcome submissions that report new or improved methodologies, or that optimise or improve the sustainability of an existing process. We also welcome submissions from industrial and policy, as well as academic, perspectives.

Circular Economy

Guest Editors: Vincent Nyamori, Alice Fan, Matthew Davies, Manie Vosloo

Submission Deadline: 28th May 2024

Themed Collection shortcode: SUCircEc24

This collection is seeking contributions on the following topics:

• Development of chemical processes that are environmentally friendly, including the use of renewable resources, safer solvents, and the reduction or elimination of hazardous chemicals.
• “Benign-by-design” approaches to materials that may be easily recycled or reused.
• The development of more durable or resilient materials from bio-based polymers.
• The evaluation of the environmental impact of materials and processes throughout their entire life cycle, from raw material extraction to disposal or recycling.

We welcome submission from academia, industry and government and regulatory sectors.

Any queries regarding these collections should be directed to the Editorial Office at rscsus-rsc@rsc.org.