Priority Activities
See the links on the left for important messages for key stakeholder groups.
There are some areas where specific focus and activity would have the greatest impact on the development of a sustainable chemical industry in the UK.
Exploiting Existing Technologies
In a number of technology areas there are well established technologies that have been successfully used to make chemical processes more sustainable. However, these are not used as widely as they could be. This can be due to lack of awareness, difficulty in demonstrating the risk/value equation for a given application, or the need to tailor technology to a specific use. Getting what we already have into industrial use deserves greater focus
The experts involved in developing this roadmap identified many technologies that could be implemented today to help the development of a more sustainable chemical industry. This is particularly true in the areas of modelling and process design. Continuing to invest in developing further new technologies will be of little value if they experience the same problems in breaking through to wide industrial application.
A high priority activity should be helping industry to evaluate and implement known technologies that will reduce environmental impact and improve economic performance.
Developing Complete Packages for Industry
Much of the chemical industry lacks the resources and expertise to properly evaluate sustainable chemical technology options.
It is not sufficient for inventors to describe the general features and benefits of a technology. Industry needs demonstration facilities, data, design guidelines, process and financial models. All of this needs to be packaged together so that the case for using a technology can be thoroughly and realistically examined.
Mobile demonstrator facilities are needed that will allow industry to try out real processes on site. Scale up is a key issue and the information and models to develop and cost a design are a critical part of the package.
Industry also needs to be able to integrate the new process into their business models and financial planning. Providing good data and models plays an important part in encouraging the take up of new technology. A good example is the use of supercritical CO2 for dry-cleaning. Commercial spread of this technology has been supported by a website www.washpoint.com that provides on-line calculators that help interested cleaning companies to evaluate the likely cost/benefit for their specific situation.
There is a key role for intermediary companies and integrators to develop these complete packages and support implementation of these technologies. There is a lack of such companies in the UK willing to take up new technologies and further support is needed to bridge this gap.
Demonstrating the Business Case
For most of the chemical industry, sustainable chemical technology is not successfully making the case that this will be a more profitable way to work. It is too often seen as either a response to external public and regulatory pressures or a commitment to corporate social responsibility that is ‘nice to have’.
Sustainable chemical technology needs to win its place on the business agenda as a tool for improved competitiveness.
There is plenty of evidence available, but not well organised and communicated. Chemistry Innovation can play a key role in collecting, organising and distributing the evidence to make the business case for sustainable chemical technology. A start has been made in the business case section of this website.
Sustainable Design for the Chemical Industry
Sustainable design is the only technology area identified that has direct relevance to products, both in use and at end of life. The chemical industry has been relatively slow to develop a coherent picture of what sustainable design means and how it might be implemented.
The chemical industry needs to develop its own model of sustainable design that is appropriate to the types of products, their typical risks, hazards and impacts. This will draw on:
- All of the work that has been done on eco-innovation
- Successful practice from more advanced industry sectors such as automobiles, white goods and consumer electronics
- Industry experience with topics such as eco-toxicity and biodegradability
The goal would be to build a coherent collection of theory, models and skills that can be taught to existing product developers as well as through Universities to the next generation of developers. A key part of this will be developing more usable methods for life-cycle analysis.
Chemistry Innovation is in an excellent position to lead the development of sustainable design for the chemical industry in the UK.
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