Green Chemistry Course

Lesson 1 • Regulatory and Market Drivers

Examines how chemical safety regulations, consumer demand, and investor pressure accelerate green chemistry adoption. Students identify external forces shaping industry decisions.

Lesson 2 • Metrics for Greenness

Covers quantitative tools such as E-factor, process mass intensity, and reaction mass efficiency. Metrics connect abstract principles to measurable process performance.

Lesson 3 • History and Motivation

Traces the origins of green chemistry from pollution-control thinking to proactive design. Provides context for why the field emerged and how it differs from traditional chemistry.

Lesson 4 • The 12 Principles Overview

Introduces all 12 principles as an integrated design framework rather than isolated rules. Students map each principle to a real chemical process challenge.

Lesson 1 • Byproduct Valorisation Strategies

Explores converting unavoidable byproducts into useful materials or energy. Valorisation reduces net waste and can improve process economics.

Lesson 2 • Waste Streams in Chemical Processes

Identifies sources of chemical waste including solvents, reagents, and byproducts. Connects waste generation to cost, safety, and environmental impact.

Lesson 3 • Reaction Type Selection

Guides selection of reaction types that inherently produce less waste. Students compare rearrangements, additions, and cycloadditions for atom efficiency.

Lesson 1 • Solvent Selection Guides

Introduces industry solvent selection tools that rank solvents by health, safety, and environmental criteria. Students use guides to substitute problematic solvents.

Lesson 2 • Ionic Liquids and Deep Eutectic Solvents

Covers tunable solvents with negligible vapour pressure as alternatives to volatile organics. Students evaluate their greenness relative to conventional solvents.

Lesson 3 • Water as a Reaction Medium

Examines aqueous-phase chemistry including hydrophobic effects that can accelerate reactions. Students assess when water is a viable and advantageous solvent.

Lesson 4 • Supercritical and Solvent-Free Methods

Introduces supercritical CO2 and mechanochemistry as solvent-free or solvent-reduced alternatives. Students identify process types suited to each approach.

Lesson 1 • Biocatalysis and Enzyme Engineering

Introduces enzymes and whole-cell biocatalysts operating under mild, aqueous conditions. Students assess enzyme selectivity, stability, and integration into synthetic routes.

Lesson 2 • Heterogeneous Catalysis

Covers solid catalysts that enable easy separation and reuse, reducing downstream waste. Students evaluate support materials, active sites, and regeneration protocols.

Lesson 3 • Homogeneous and Organocatalysis

Examines metal-complex and metal-free organocatalysts for selective transformations. Students compare selectivity, recyclability, and metal contamination risks.

Lesson 4 • Catalysis vs. Stoichiometric Reagents

Contrasts catalytic and stoichiometric approaches using E-factor and atom economy data. Demonstrates the waste reduction potential of catalysis across reaction classes.

Lesson 1 • Sustainability Assessment of Feedstocks

Applies life cycle thinking and land-use analysis to compare feedstock sustainability. Students use simplified LCA tools to rank feedstock options.

Lesson 2 • Platform Chemicals from Biomass

Introduces key bio-derived platform molecules such as HMF, levulinic acid, and succinic acid. Students identify downstream products accessible from each platform chemical.

Lesson 3 • CO2 as a Carbon Feedstock

Examines catalytic and electrochemical routes that convert CO2 into fuels and chemicals. Students evaluate thermodynamic requirements and current technology readiness.

Lesson 4 • Lignocellulosic Biomass Conversion

Covers pretreatment, hydrolysis, and fermentation of lignocellulose to platform chemicals. Students trace cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin valorisation routes.

Lesson 1 • Safer Alternatives Assessment

Applies structured frameworks to compare candidate molecules across hazard, function, and feasibility. Students produce a documented safer alternatives analysis.

Lesson 2 • Designing for Degradation

Covers strategies to build hydrolytic or photolytic lability into molecules for end-of-life breakdown. Students balance stability during use with degradability after disposal.

Lesson 3 • Principles of Molecular Hazard

Links chemical structure to toxicity, persistence, and bioaccumulation using SAR principles. Provides the mechanistic basis for hazard-reduction design decisions.

Lesson 4 • Computational Hazard Prediction

Introduces QSAR models and in silico tools for predicting toxicity before synthesis. Students interpret model outputs and understand their applicability domains.

Lesson 1 • Energy Demand in Chemical Manufacturing

Quantifies energy use across heating, cooling, separation, and mixing unit operations. Establishes baseline understanding of where energy is consumed and why.

Lesson 2 • Renewable Energy Integration

Examines solar thermal, wind, and green hydrogen as energy sources for chemical processes. Students assess feasibility and intermittency challenges for industrial applications.

Lesson 3 • Heat Integration and Pinch Analysis

Teaches pinch analysis to identify heat recovery opportunities within a process. Students construct composite curves and identify minimum utility targets.

Lesson 4 • Reaction Condition Optimisation

Covers lowering reaction temperatures and pressures through catalyst and solvent selection. Students redesign reaction conditions to reduce thermal energy input.

Lesson 1 • Applying LCA to Chemical Processes

Demonstrates LCA application to synthetic routes, comparing bio-based and petrochemical pathways. Students identify hotspots and prioritise improvement opportunities.

Lesson 2 • Green Process Design Workflow

Presents a structured workflow from target molecule to optimised green synthesis. Students apply all prior course concepts in an integrated design exercise.

Lesson 3 • Communicating Green Chemistry Value

Teaches how to present green chemistry findings to technical and non-technical audiences. Students prepare a concise process sustainability report using course metrics.

Lesson 4 • Life Cycle Assessment Fundamentals

Covers the four LCA phases: goal and scope, inventory, impact assessment, and interpretation. Students understand how LCA quantifies environmental burdens across a product's life.