VIRTUAL TECHNICAL SEMINAR ~ Green Chemical Design & Development

by Duane Nichols on August 23, 2022

Green & Sustainable Chemicals Needed to Replace Toxic Substances

§ Boost Green and Sustainable Chemical Development with AI §

Presented by Craig Rowlands, Senior Toxicologist and Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff at UL Solutions

FROM: Virtual Local Section, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, August 22, 2022

Public concerns about the health and environmental safety of chemicals are driving the development of more sustainable, ‘‘greener’’ chemicals and products. Intrinsic chemical hazards are a function of many factors including physicochemical properties, chemical structure, and sub-structures. Using these properties to predict chemical hazards provides chemical R&D programs with a fast and increasingly reliable technology for new green chemical designs. Artificial Intelligence prediction software is well suited for this purpose and can be applied to all stages of the value chain when developing new green and sustainable chemicals.

Dr. Rowlands is a Senior Toxicologist and Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff at UL Solutions providing leadership in the innovation of products and services for chemical safety assessments of consumer products. He has spent over 20 years applying conventional and new toxicology approaches including non-animal and computational predictive toxicology in chemical safety evaluations. His current research is developing approaches to using artificial intelligence models to aid in the development of green and sustainable chemicals.

This meeting is free and open to all, not just to Virtual Local Section members.

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THREE MEETING OPTIONS

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PRIMARY MEETING (LIVE PRESENTATION/LIVE CHAT)

9:00 PM ET Wednesday, August 24, 2022 Register in advance for this meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUoduquqD0qE9O4BwlDfAWGetzB2vbbloa-

ALTERNATE 1 (RECORDED PRESENTATION/LIVE CHAT)

7:00 AM ET Thursday, August 25, 2022 Register in advance for this meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIpdeCvqDkuG9J2hMp2EO3-JrZgJOITg6Mk

ALTERNATE 2 (RECORDED PRESENTATION/LIVE CHAT)

1:00 PM ET Thursday August 25, 2022 Register in advance for this meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUtf-2rpz4qGNWEHVt7Pj4ypXKK2kyLvf6K

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing instructions for joining the meeting.

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EPA Calls for Nominations for 2023 Green Chemistry Challenge Awards

From the EPA Press Office, Washington, DC, August 18, 2022

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it is now accepting nominations for the 2023 Green Chemistry Challenge Awards from companies or institutions that have developed a new green chemistry process or product that helps protect human health and the environment. EPA is again including an award category to recognize technology that reduces or eliminates greenhouse gas emissions, in support of the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to combat the climate crisis.

Additionally, EPA is announcing a webinar to be held on Wednesday, September 28, 2022, from 2 p.m.– 3:30 p.m. EDT, to educate stakeholders on the Green Chemistry Challenge Awards and the nomination process.

“Green Chemistry Challenge Award winners are leaders in their field and their technologies demonstrate how this revolutionary discipline can be used to prevent pollution at its source,” said EPA Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Deputy Assistant Administrator for Pollution Prevention Jennie Romer. “Green chemistry is also a tool in the fight against climate change, and by encouraging the use of greener products, it can advance environmental justice in underserved and overburdened communities where industrial sites are disproportionately located.”

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

Jon Ungoed-Thomas August 23, 2022 at 12:12 pm

UN seeks plan to beat plastic nurdles, the tiny scourges of the oceans

§ ~ Billions of the pellets end up in the sea, killing turtles, whales and dolphins, and are washed up on beaches around the world ~ §

From the Reporter, Jon Ungoed-Thomas, The Guardian UK, August 20, 2022

Maritime authorities are considering stricter controls on the ocean transport of billions of plastic pellets known as nurdles after a series of spillages around the world.

Campaigners warn that nurdles are one of the most common micro-plastic pollutants in the seas, washing up on beaches from New Zealand to Cornwall. The multicoloured pellets produced by petrochemical companies are used as building blocks for plastic products, from bags to bottles and piping.

Billions of nurdles washed up in Sri Lanka in May last year after the container ship X-Press Pearl caught fire and sank in the Indian Ocean. The United Nations said the spillage of about 1,680 tonnes of nurdles was the worst maritime disaster in Sri Lanka’s history, with one official saying the spillage was like a “cluster bomb”.

The International Maritime Organization, a UN agency, has asked pollution experts to examine the options for “reducing the environmental risk associated with the maritime transport of plastic pellets (nurdles)”. The IMO said a panel of experts would submit their findings for a meeting in April next year.

Sri Lanka has called for nurdles transported in container ships to be identified as a harmful substance and a hazard to the marine environment. It would mean tighter procedures to reduce the risk of a spill.

In a submission by Sri Lanka to the IMO after the X-Press Pearl sinking, officials said: “The incident has resulted in deaths of marine species such as turtles, whales and dolphins.

“There need to be immediate steps taken to regulate and better coordinate the handling, management, and transportation of plastic pellets through the entire supply chain. Voluntary plastic industry initiatives are not sufficient.”

Sri Lanka’s call has been backed by Norway. In February 2020, the cargo ship Trans Carrier spilt more than 13 tonnes of nurdles, which were dispersed along the coastlines of Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

The environmental charity Fidra, which is based in Scotland, organises the great nurdle hunt to monitor the pollution of the pellets around the world. It says nurdles are tiny, persistent and potentially toxic.

They have been found littered around the UK coastline, with 401,230 nurdles collected in just one clean-up at Tregantle beach near Plymouth. They have also been found on the Dorset coast, the Isles of Scilly, Anglesey and on the banks of the Thames in London.

Nearly 370m tonnes of plastic is produced each year, with China accounting for nearly a third. A research centre at the University of Texas has estimated it takes 1,005 nurdles to make a plastic bottle, 665 nurdles to make a toothbrush, and 174 to make a supermarket bag.

Campaigner say billions of nurdles pollute waterways and the seas each year because of accidental spills during production and transportation.

Insurance companies also want stricter rules for the shipping and storage of nurdles, because of the financial and environmental costs of spillages.

Jörg Asmussen, chief executive of the German Insurance Association, said: “Nurdles that have gone overboard can cause large environmental damage in the long term and are threatening biodiversity of coastal areas.”

After two years of wrangling, false starts and disappointments, it finally happened: America has passed its first-ever climate legislation, moving the country closer to its goal of a decarbonized future and taking a significant step toward helping the planet avert the worst scenarios of climate catastrophe.

But it’s not a time to rest. We have always held power to account – on climate and every other major issue – from the fossil fuel companies responsible for heating the planet to the politicians representing their interests. The country responsible for the most greenhouse gas emissions in history has indicated it will change course; we will relentlessly report on what comes next, who will benefit and the remaining obstacles to progress.

With daily reporting and analysis on the climate emergency, we aim to ensure that even more people are made aware of the dangers – and opportunities – of this moment.

Our editorial independence means we are free to write and publish journalism which prioritises the crisis. We can highlight the climate policy successes and failings of those who lead us in these challenging times. We have no shareholders and no billionaire owner, just the determination and passion to deliver high-impact global reporting, free from commercial or political influence.

And we provide all this for free, for everyone to read. We do this because we believe in information equality. Greater numbers of people can keep track of the global events shaping our world, understand their impact on people and communities, and become inspired to take meaningful action. Millions can benefit from open access to quality, truthful news, regardless of their ability to pay for it.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/20/un-seeks-plan-to-beat-plastic-nurdles-the-tiny-scourges-of-the-oceans

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