Well-attended symposium on green chemistry for sustainable materials
Speakers and organisers during the Green Chemistry for Sustainable Materials event at the Ångström Laboratory. Photo: Peter Westman
How can new methods and technologies in green chemistry contribute to reduced emissions, energy efficiency and the use of renewable resources? That was the theme of the Green Chemistry for Sustainable Materials symposium at the Ångström Laboratory the other day.
“The aim is to create a platform for interactions and interdisciplinary collaboration. The event is dedicated to fostering a comprehensive dialogue on the critical role green chemistry plays in the future of material development,” said one of the chairs, Tetyana Budnyak, WISE Fellow and Assistant Professor/Associate Senior Lecturer in Geohydrology at the Department of Earth Sciences.
On Monday evening, the Nobel Symposium 198 Chemistry for Sustainability was held in Sigtuna, but before that, the Green Chemistry for Sustainable Materials satellite event was held at the Ångström Laboratory. Around a hundred spectators were treated to presentations by a number of internationally prominent researchers in chemistry, materials science and engineering.
Paul Anastas, Director of the Centre for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering at Yale University. Photo: Peter Westman
One of the speakers was Paul Anastas, Director of the Centre for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering at Yale University and one of the founders of the concept of green chemistry. He argued that we need to move from being efficient to being effective.
“We've done things so wrong for so long, we've got nothing but opportunity”.
“Hot spots” in focus
Chemistry must be put into practice to really make a difference, continued Professor and chemist Peter Licence from the University of Nottingham. He concluded that global challenges will not be solved unless we deliver cleaner processes, smarter materials and better science today.
However, not all green chemistry research projects are equally good for the environment, stated chemistry professor Philip Jessop from Queen's University, Canada. One of the measures should be to make the most harmful steps, known as direct “hot spots”, greener - something that may become easier as the amount of data from life cycle analyses increases.
How green chemistry can make the leap from academia to industry was also discussed, with Professor Julie B. Zimmerman of Yale University talking about chemistry research that is making a difference to integrated biorefineries, designed to produce fuels, chemicals and materials from biomass. Kei Saito, Professor of Green and Sustainable Chemistry at Kyoto University, demonstrated the possibility of reusing and recycling dynamic polymers, promoting a circular economy and carbon-neutral future.
MIT professor and chemist Desirée Plata also outlined the great need for materials and chemical innovation to shift the economy towards environmentally compatible systems, emphasising the urgency of the theme.
Professor Gerrit Boschloo. Photo: Anneli Björkman
Thoughts about materials and process steps
Many researchers and students attended the open event, including Gerrit Boschloo, Professor of Physical Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry-Ångström.
“I found it a very interesting symposium. One of the things I learnt was that when you do research, you use very pure materials. But to produce them costs a lot of energy. In the future, perhaps we should consider using less pure materials, mixed materials. Then maybe the solar cells we are working on can be much cheaper,” said Gerrit Boschloo.
He added:
“Another interesting idea to consider is which step in the solar cell manufacturing process is actually the worst for the environment. Can we identify that? Then we can target what is most important to make our
solar cells more environmentally friendly.”
Many parallel initiatives
One of the members of the organising committee, Professor Sascha Ott from Chemistry-Ångström, highlighted the many parallel initiatives in green chemistry and sustainable materials that are underway.
“We have all kinds of centres. And that is needed because there is no single initiative that can do everything. In that context, an event like this also fills an important gap.”
The event also featured a poster session as well as a ‘Green Innovations’ session with short poster presentations from companies and start-ups focusing on green chemistry and sustainable materials.
“It is very inspiring and encouraging to witness a diverse mix of early-career and more established researchers from various disciplines come together, engage with such distinguished speakers, and discuss the challenges and opportunities within these important topics,” said Professor Håkan Rensmo from the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
The day was organised by WISE - Uppsala University, and received financial support from the Wenner-Gren Foundation. WISE - Wallenberg Initiative Materials Science for Sustainability- is an initiative funded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.
Professor Sascha Ott. Photo: Anneli Björkman
Anneli Björkman