1: Scope of the Book Free

The first edition of Chemistry for Sustainable Technologies: A Foundation was intended to be a different type of text book that considered sustainability from the perspective of the chemical sciences put in the context of basic concepts from other disciplines and domains. It was therefore broader than more specialist books though it sought not to lose sight of chemical fundamentals. The more questioning approach taken in the first edition, particularly to the substantive contributions of green chemistry, has now been more widely adopted. This edition will continue to stress the importance of an unwavering focus on rigour, reason and open-mindedness to help make sense of the avalanche of scientific publication, associated speculation, comment and polemic (and fake news). It will bring the entire treatment up-to-date (as far as this is possible for a text book) with a selection of the latest evidence, examples and ideas.

To navigate rationally the complex issues and manifold perspectives that characterise sustainability and sustainable development, a clear prior understanding is necessary of the scientific method and its development (and, as a consequence, an appreciation of the need to consciously think as scientists). Unfortunately this is something rarely taught formally or explicitly in undergraduate chemistry courses. By encouraging the use of these tools, it is hoped that the reader will be better able to get to (and to interpret) the underlying evidence behind the images and headlines seen in the media and on the internet.

The book more conventionally does the following, using up-to-date examples:

• explains the concepts and terminology of sustainability and sustainable development and their associated complexity, inter-relatedness and uncertainty;

• highlights the necessary (if sometimes contested) role of science and technology in the transition towards sustainable development;

• exemplifies new approaches to chemistry and chemical technology driven by the need for, and requirements of, more sustainable chemical and energy technologies; and

• illustrates the central role of metrics in the critical and comparative assessment of these technologies and their sustainability.

The aim is to equip the reader to:

• understand the basic terminology of sustainable development and chemistry for sustainable technologies;

• appreciate the non-rigorous nature of much of this terminology and its consequences;

• recognise the importance of universally-applicable thermodynamic principles in judgements about what may be considered sustainable (or even possible);

• evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of green chemistry;

• appreciate the importance of catalysis, process technology and the use of alternative feedstocks and energy sources in developing sustainable chemical technologies and the challenges associated with the transition from fossil-fuel dependency;

• place chemistry and chemical technology in a wider technological and societal context; and

• gauge the nature and scale of current global energy, feedstock and material needs and practical constraints on the delivery of sustainable alternatives.

The topic of sustainable development, the factors driving it and efforts being made to bring it about continue to change over time. To maintain currency, I update the list of websites and weblinks that may be of use as starting points to supplement the material to be found in the academic peer-reviewed literature. The extra care needed when using such web-based and increasingly open-sourced material is discussed in Chapter 13.

To keep the scope of this treatment manageable while meeting the book's prime purpose to provide a foundation to the topic of chemistry for sustainable development, there will be some matters that are not explored in the detail required to satisfy every reader. In these instances, I point to accessible and peer-reviewed sources of additional information that readers could profitably explore further.

The selection of topics addressed and the examples used to illustrate them are governed, to a large extent, by the fact that this book is aimed primarily at chemists and chemical technologists. The selection I have made is different from that which those with other specialisms and interests might have made. That this is so is a reflection of the complexity and inter-relatedness of sustainable development and sustainability (Glaze¹  called this ‘hyperdisciplinarity’), something that it is important, at the outset, to recognise. The role of chemistry, and of science itself, is shown to be critically important. While absolutely necessary, however, neither is sufficient.

The main themes covered by this book include:

• Sustainability and sustainable development: the origins and impact of climate change.

• Science and knowledge: what is it? Use and misuse.

• The Anthropocene and the age of technology; the scale of energy and material use and its implications; carrying capacity of the Earth; ‘tipping points’.

• Earth systems science; environmental chemistry.

• Waste and its minimisation; pollution and its prevention.

• Metrics, life-cycle analysis and chemical technology: the process and product chain; technological integration; industrial ecology and the circular economy.

• The central importance of the Second Law of Thermodynamics: the concept of exergy.

• Green chemistry: principles and pitfalls; contributions from new chemistry; the central importance of catalysis.

• Energy sources, transformation and storage: prospects and timescales.

• Renewable feedstocks: the transition from fossil sources; biomass; biofuels; the ‘biorefinery’.

• The chemist as citizen: a statement of the challenges.

An examination of the list of contents will show that these themes follow roughly the order in which the chapters appear, with the basic ideas necessary for an appreciation of later material coming first. For reasons of space, some examples used to illustrate these basic ideas and their relevance are not necessarily repeated when a related topic is later considered in detail. Other cases, such as that of solvents derived from biomass, which are relevant across several chapters, are discussed in detail in only one (Chapter 12). One centrally important topic, the formation, function, impact and processing of carbon dioxide, is treated in a number of chapters where, in my view, the discussion sits most comfortably. Whatever the readers’ area of expertise or interest, and whether the chapters are read sequentially or are dipped into occasionally, from the outset, topics and sections are cross-referenced at critical points in the text, to supplement the index and list of contents and to aid navigation.

The underlying theme running through the book is chemistry's central importance both to our attempts to understand the environment and the lifeforms that populate it, as well as to our efforts to develop ways to make the demands of the human population on the planet's resources (and its associated impact) more sustainable. The technological application of chemistry requires some basic understanding of process engineering and process economics and these are introduced as part of the foundation that represents the purpose of this book. Importantly, no claim that a chemical product, transformation or process is either ‘green’, sustainable, or eco- or energy efficient (or environmentally ‘friendly’) should be made or remain unchallenged (preferably, not published) without well-founded evidence of its scalability that addresses the likelihood that it could be produced or operated practically on an industrial scale. Furthermore, this foundation also encompasses the economic and social context (and associated political ramifications) of technological development, particularly relating to the challenge of climate change.

The book tries not to be polemical: it takes no position in areas of controversy, but seeks to reflect my best personal assessment of the consensus position. It is worth pointing out that a consensus view (such as that which prevailed when it was believed that the Earth was the centre of the solar system) can be wrong and those seeking to change it can appear to be outlandish, even dangerous, mavericks²  who challenge established authority. My own view on the anthropogenic (i.e. man-made) contribution to climate change has moved over the last 20 years or so, in the light of the evidence, from a point where I accepted the evidence for climate change with a lack of conviction concerning the role of anthropogenic emissions to a position now where I accept that there is a significant contribution to climate change arising from our emissions of greenhouse gases that requires an urgent, sustained and global response.

While there may be a developing general acceptance that action needs to be taken to ameliorate the situation, it is less likely that there will be a consensus on what form (or forms) this action might take. However, my hope is that readers will be assisted in arriving at a rational view for themselves based on the scientific evidence as to what the current position is that may help to inform their judgements about how to proceed.

We are, in historical terms, beginning the journey to sustainability, so it is, at present, possible only to frame the very hard questions we need to ask, providing tentative answers to some and not necessarily providing definitive answers to them all. However, because it is possible that we are close to a point of no return (and in no position to judge whether or not, or how close we are), there is a sense of urgency in our search for answers to these questions. I hope that this book will enable those of the new generation who must exercise judgement to develop ‘a deeper kind of prudence’³  and a ‘capacity to worry intelligently’.⁴