Marco Eissen et.al.: 10 Years after Rio–Concepts on the Contribution of
Chemistry to a Sustainable Development
- Author(s): Marco Eissen, Juergen O. Metzger,
Eberhard Schmidt, Uwe Schneidewind
- Title: 10 Years after Rio–Concepts on the Contribution of Chemistry to
a Sustainable Development
- Date of Upload: 2002
- Article: Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2002, 41, 414 - 436, Fachbereich Chemie,
Institut fuer Politikwissenschaften II und Institut fuer BWL I der Carl von
Ossietzky Universitaet Oldenburg, Postfach 2503, 26111 Oldenburg (Germany);
- Keywords: environmentally friendly synthesis, innovations,
oxidations, renewable raw materials, sustainable development, renewable
feedstock, vegetable oil, plant oil
- Abstract:
- The principles of the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development(UNCED), held in June 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, and Agenda 21, the
comprehensive plan of action for the 21st century, adopted 10 years ago by
more than 170 governments, address the pressing problems of today and also aim
at preparing the world for the challenges of this century. The conservation
and management of resources for development are the main focus of interest, to
which the sciences will have to make a considerable contribution. Natural,
economic, and social sciences will have to be integrated in order to achieve
this aim. In their future programs, the associations of the chemical
industries in Europe, Japan, and the USA have explicitly accepted their
obligation to foster a sustainable development.In this review we investigate
innovations in chemistry exemplarily for such a development with regard to
their ecological, economical, and social dimensions from an integrated and
interdisciplinary perspective. Since base chemicals are produced in large
quantities and important product lines are synthesized from them, their
resource-saving production is especially important for a sustainable
development. This concept has been shown, amongst others, by the example of
the syntheses of propylene oxide and adipic acid. In the long run, renewable
resources that are catalytically processed could replace fossil raw materials.
Separation methods existing today must be improved considerably to lower
material and energy consumption. Chemistry might become the pioneer of an
innovative energy technique. The design of chemical products should make
possible a sustainable processing and recycling and should prevent their
bio-accumulation. Methods and criteria to assess their contribution to a
sustainable development are necessary. The time taken to introduce the new
more sustainable processes and products has to be diminished by linking their
development with operational innovation management and with efficient
environmental-political control procedures.
- URL: http://www.chemie.uni-oldenburg.de/oc/metzger/publikationen/pdf/91_engl.pdf
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