78755 - Environmental Assessment 5

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student will acquire a knowledge the Green Chemistry principles. The tools for measuring the greenness of chemical processes will become familiar to the student. The knowledge of biocatalytic processes as well as of correct formulation of chemical substances will be acquired, providing the student with powerful tools for preventing pollution and for promoting sustainability. Focus will be put on "priority substances" and their regulation as a goal for preserving the environment.

Course contents

- Green Metrics: The module will initially discuss the parameters traditionally used to define the efficiency of a synthetic transformation (yield, chemo-, regio- and stereo-selectivity), then it will introduce new concepts related to the sustainability and environmental performance of a chemical process (chemicals toxicity and availability, hazardous reactions, waste production). Finally, starting from the seminal definition of atom economy [http://emmcchir.org/ChIRM24/mod/resource/view.php?id=2040] by Trost, the principal green metrics introduced so far to evaluate the environmental efficiency of a synthetic transformation will be throughly discussed and applied to real case study examples.

-Sustainable biocatalytic processes: The basic principles of biocatalysis, as the enzyme structure, the origin of activity and selectivity and the kinetic models are intorduced. Then, the reaction efficiency and the green chemistry metrics of biotransformations are studied to understand the application of biocatalysis to sustainable industrial processes, like single-step, multi-step reactions and multi-enzymatic cascade systems. The use of isolated enzyme and whole cell enzyme as immobilized catalyst are explored to verify the advantages in environmentally friendly product recovery. Examples of bulky industrial biocatalytic processes and process supported on nanoscale devices are reported.

-Design of chemical formulations: The general purposes of this module are to supply knowledge about the different structures which are adequate to apply the active ingredients of products and about the procedures to obtain those structures. For getting these general purpose specific aims are to study the correlation of the product structures and the product behaviour in its application, to study the preparation of the product for incorporating the different ingredients and obtaining the desired structures.

-Priority Substances in EU Environmental Legislation: Students are introduced to EU Environmental Legislation tools, such as the Water Framework Directive and the Priority Substance Directive. They are encouraged to explore Environmental legislation in other regions of the world and countries. Students explore the list of Priority Substances to ascertain why these chemicals were developed and what uses are made of them by which economic sectors. Students explore the various monitoring and analytical aspects as well as assessment methods. Finally students discuss with their peers what possible options there are for decreasing or substituting these chemicals.

Readings/Bibliography

The material for preparing the exam is availble on the website of the ChIr master. 

Teaching methods

Lessons

Assessment methods

Written test assignments to be completed in group and submitted to the teachers after an established deadline (usually 4 weeks after course end)

Office hours

See the website of Alessandra Tolomelli

See the website of Marco Lombardo

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