- Email: [email protected]
Green solvents: A solution of air pollution and climatic changes
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
ScienceDirect
Current Opinion in
Green and Sustainable Chemistry
Green solvents: A solution of air pollution and climatic changes Charlotta Turner and Jianji Wang Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry 2017, 5:ii–iii This review comes from a themed issue on Green Solvents 2017 Edited by Charlotta Turner and Jianji Wang http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsc.2017.05.010 2452-2236/© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Charlotta Turner Lund University, Department of Chemistry, Centre for Analysis and Synthesis, P.O. Box 124, SE 221 00, Lund, Sweden e-mail: [email protected] Charlotta Turner is a Professor in Analytical Chemistry at Lund University (LU) in Sweden. She obtained a Master’s degree in Chemistry from LU in 1996, and a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from the same university in 2001. Charlotta did her postdoc from 2001–2004 at the U.S. Department of Agriculture laboratory in Albany, CA, after which she returned to Uppsala University where she started her research group, the Green Technology Group. In 2009, she moved back to LU, and in 2012 she became a full professor. Turner’s research interests are in analytical chemistry for a sustainable development, and a key competence is 20 years of experience on supercritical fluid technology. Read more about the Green Technology Group and the different research projects here: http:// www.kilu.lu.se/cas/research/green-technologygroup/ and about Charlotta Turner here: http:// www.kilu.lu.se/cas/staff/professors/turner/.
Jianji Wang School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang, Henan, PR China e-mail: [email protected] Dr Jianji Wang is a Professor of Chemistry at Henan Normal University (HNU) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK). He received his PhD at Yokohama National University (Japan). He is the funding director for Key Laboratory of Green Chemical Media and Reactions (Ministry of Education) at HNU. His research interests are centred at the structure– property relationship of green solvents and their applications in green separation, CO2 capture and biomass processing. He has authored around 300 scientific publications in peerreviewed journals, and serves as an associate editor for Green Energy & Environment.
Solvents are used in almost every process in chemistry, biology, chemical engineering, biotechnology, and other interdisciplinary fields of science and technology to aid in the transfer of mass and heat, and to facilitate separations and purifications. These solvents are often volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are problematic in terms of toxicity, wastegeneration and pollution. Around 20 million tons per year of VOCs are discarded into the atmosphere [1] in the world, resulting in serious air pollution, global climatic changes, and human health-related problems. To reply to such challenges, governmental policies for the control of emissions of chemicals into the environment have become more and more restrictive in recent years. Therefore, it is vitally important to reduce the amount of VOCs used in chemical and industrial processes. Green chemistry is the use of a series of principles that will reduce the use or generation of hazardous substances during the design, production and application of chemical products [2]. The use of safer solvents is one of the important principles of green chemistry. According to this green chemistry principle, the use of solvents should either be avoided or limited as much as possible, and although sometimes this is not possible, we ought to try to use greener alternatives to toxic solvents. Indeed, a number of green solvents such as supercritical fluids, ionic liquids, deep eutectic solvents and fluorous solvents have been explored during the past decades. In addition to the non-volatility and non-toxicity of some of these solvents, the application of these green solvents has inherent benefits such as enhanced reaction rates and more readily isolated side products and main products. In recent years, efforts have been devoted to the development of green solvents in the framework of green chemistry, and significant progress has been made in academic and industry. In order to provide the latest knowledge in this area, this issue covers state-of-theart reviews on green solvents in chemistry, chemical engineering, biomedicine, biotechnology, environmental engineering and among others. Lignocellulosic biomass is the most abundant biorenewable and biodegradable resource on the earth. However, the efficient dissolution and conversion of biomass are still challenging. Arthur J. Ragauskas and co-authors (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452223616300992) offer an overview of the latest progress in applications of ionic liquids in biomass conversion and analysis, and several recently developed methods have been highlighted to overcome current challenges on the use of ionic liquids in the biomass conversion. Ionic liquids assisted synthesis is an effective way to control the preparation of inorganic materials. Kezhen Qi and Wenjun Zheng (http://www. sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452223617300081) elaborate several synthetic strategies by using ionic liquids and the mechanisms of ionic liquids in controlling desired crystal morphology of inorganic materials. Solution-processed organic solar cells illustrate challenges inherent in processing p-conjugated semiconductors from sustainable polar solvents. Caitlin McDowell and Guillermo C. Bazan (http://www.sciencedirect. com/science/article/pii/S2452223616300803) outline several kinds of
Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry 2017, 5:ii–iii
www.sciencedirect.com
Green solvents editorial Turner and Wang
green solvents used in the organic solar cells process, which makes organic solar cells competitive to solar energy alternatives that rely on significantly more toxic compositions. The development of green analytical chemistry and separation science is related with the application of green solvents to a large extent. Marek Tobiszewski and Jacekb Namiesnik (http://www.sciencedirect.com/ science/article/pii/S245222361630075X) present the latest accomplishment in the use of green organic solvents in analytical extraction and chromatographic separation processes. Farid Chemat and co-workers (http:// www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452223616300736) provide an instantaneous picture of current knowledge on green solvents used in analytical sample preparation and extraction of natural products. Maaike C. Kroon and co-authors (http://www.sciencedirect. com/science/article/pii/S2452223616300967) look at the application of deep eutectic solvents in the separation processes of oil and gas such as dearomatization, desulfurization, and the removal of glycerol from biofuel and natural gas sweetening. Merichel Plaza and coworkers (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/ pii/S245222361730007X) describe the changes in physicochemical properties of water from ambient to nearcritical conditions, and then discuss some of the most relevant applications of subcritical water extraction in recent years. Xiangping Zhang and co-workers (dx.doi. org/10.1016/j.cogsc.2017.03.015) review the capture performance and mechanism of CO2, SO2, H2S and NH3 in conventional and functionalized ionic liquids, and summarize the methods for ionic liquids screening with COSMOS-RS, a process simulation, assessment and design of new ionic liquids-based gas separation processes. Sheng Dai and co-workers (http://www. sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/ S2452223616300931) give an overview of progress in the fabrication of ionic liquids hybrid solvents for CO2 capture, and discuss the advantages and disadvantages associated with these hybrid solvents. Supercritical carbon dioxide and its expanded liquids are another kind of green solvents. The former has been used as a green solvent in biomaterials impregnation and building dry powder formulations. Ana Rita Cruz Duarte and co-workers (dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsc. 2017.03.014) sum up the recent progresses in supercritical CO2 assisted impregnation of active compounds
www.sciencedirect.com
iii
and therapeutic deep eutectic systems for biomedical applications. Ana Aguiar-Ricardo (http://www. sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452223616300748) considers the integration technologies of supercritical CO2 assisted spray drying. Elena Ibáñez and coworkers (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/ pii/S2452223616300955) describe the physical properties and the most recent applications of carbon dioxide expanded liquids and switchable solvents as well as their possible role as green solvents in sustainable chemical processes. Molecular modelling of green solvents is a powerful tool for a microscopic understanding of interactions, processes and phenomena. Sundaram Balasubramanian and co-authors (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ article/pii/S2452223617300044) detail the recent progress in the modelling studies of ionic liquids, supercritical carbon dioxide, organic carbonates, deep eutectic solvents, and comment their applications in electrochemistry and biomolecular dissolution. In addition, dimethyl carbonate is a valuable and green platform chemical and/or solvent because it is non-toxic and biodegradable in the atmosphere. Rajni Hatti-Kaul and co-workers (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ article/pii/S2452223617300019) review the physical-, thermodynamic-, toxicological- and ecotoxicological properties, production methods, reactivity, and applications of dimethyl carbonate in chemical- and biotechnical processes. This issue provides a highly useful source for any scientists working in the fields of CO2 capture, gas separation, nano-material preparation, organic solar cell, extraction and purification of bioactive compounds, oil and gas industrial applications of green solvents, biomass utilization, biomedicine, and green solvents for sample preparation in analytical chemistry. We hope that you enjoy reading these reviews, and maybe they will encourage you to join the research fields of design, development and application of green solvents.
References 1.
Brennecke JF, Maginn EJ: Ionic liquids: innovative fluids for chemical processing. AIChE J. 2001, 47:2384.
2.
Anastas PT, Warner JC: Green chemistry theory and practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1998.
Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry 2017, 5:ii–iii
ScienceDirect
Current Opinion in
Green and Sustainable Chemistry
Green solvents: A solution of air pollution and climatic changes Charlotta Turner and Jianji Wang Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry 2017, 5:ii–iii This review comes from a themed issue on Green Solvents 2017 Edited by Charlotta Turner and Jianji Wang http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsc.2017.05.010 2452-2236/© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Charlotta Turner Lund University, Department of Chemistry, Centre for Analysis and Synthesis, P.O. Box 124, SE 221 00, Lund, Sweden e-mail: [email protected] Charlotta Turner is a Professor in Analytical Chemistry at Lund University (LU) in Sweden. She obtained a Master’s degree in Chemistry from LU in 1996, and a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from the same university in 2001. Charlotta did her postdoc from 2001–2004 at the U.S. Department of Agriculture laboratory in Albany, CA, after which she returned to Uppsala University where she started her research group, the Green Technology Group. In 2009, she moved back to LU, and in 2012 she became a full professor. Turner’s research interests are in analytical chemistry for a sustainable development, and a key competence is 20 years of experience on supercritical fluid technology. Read more about the Green Technology Group and the different research projects here: http:// www.kilu.lu.se/cas/research/green-technologygroup/ and about Charlotta Turner here: http:// www.kilu.lu.se/cas/staff/professors/turner/.
Jianji Wang School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang, Henan, PR China e-mail: [email protected] Dr Jianji Wang is a Professor of Chemistry at Henan Normal University (HNU) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK). He received his PhD at Yokohama National University (Japan). He is the funding director for Key Laboratory of Green Chemical Media and Reactions (Ministry of Education) at HNU. His research interests are centred at the structure– property relationship of green solvents and their applications in green separation, CO2 capture and biomass processing. He has authored around 300 scientific publications in peerreviewed journals, and serves as an associate editor for Green Energy & Environment.
Solvents are used in almost every process in chemistry, biology, chemical engineering, biotechnology, and other interdisciplinary fields of science and technology to aid in the transfer of mass and heat, and to facilitate separations and purifications. These solvents are often volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are problematic in terms of toxicity, wastegeneration and pollution. Around 20 million tons per year of VOCs are discarded into the atmosphere [1] in the world, resulting in serious air pollution, global climatic changes, and human health-related problems. To reply to such challenges, governmental policies for the control of emissions of chemicals into the environment have become more and more restrictive in recent years. Therefore, it is vitally important to reduce the amount of VOCs used in chemical and industrial processes. Green chemistry is the use of a series of principles that will reduce the use or generation of hazardous substances during the design, production and application of chemical products [2]. The use of safer solvents is one of the important principles of green chemistry. According to this green chemistry principle, the use of solvents should either be avoided or limited as much as possible, and although sometimes this is not possible, we ought to try to use greener alternatives to toxic solvents. Indeed, a number of green solvents such as supercritical fluids, ionic liquids, deep eutectic solvents and fluorous solvents have been explored during the past decades. In addition to the non-volatility and non-toxicity of some of these solvents, the application of these green solvents has inherent benefits such as enhanced reaction rates and more readily isolated side products and main products. In recent years, efforts have been devoted to the development of green solvents in the framework of green chemistry, and significant progress has been made in academic and industry. In order to provide the latest knowledge in this area, this issue covers state-of-theart reviews on green solvents in chemistry, chemical engineering, biomedicine, biotechnology, environmental engineering and among others. Lignocellulosic biomass is the most abundant biorenewable and biodegradable resource on the earth. However, the efficient dissolution and conversion of biomass are still challenging. Arthur J. Ragauskas and co-authors (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452223616300992) offer an overview of the latest progress in applications of ionic liquids in biomass conversion and analysis, and several recently developed methods have been highlighted to overcome current challenges on the use of ionic liquids in the biomass conversion. Ionic liquids assisted synthesis is an effective way to control the preparation of inorganic materials. Kezhen Qi and Wenjun Zheng (http://www. sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452223617300081) elaborate several synthetic strategies by using ionic liquids and the mechanisms of ionic liquids in controlling desired crystal morphology of inorganic materials. Solution-processed organic solar cells illustrate challenges inherent in processing p-conjugated semiconductors from sustainable polar solvents. Caitlin McDowell and Guillermo C. Bazan (http://www.sciencedirect. com/science/article/pii/S2452223616300803) outline several kinds of
Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry 2017, 5:ii–iii
www.sciencedirect.com
Green solvents editorial Turner and Wang
green solvents used in the organic solar cells process, which makes organic solar cells competitive to solar energy alternatives that rely on significantly more toxic compositions. The development of green analytical chemistry and separation science is related with the application of green solvents to a large extent. Marek Tobiszewski and Jacekb Namiesnik (http://www.sciencedirect.com/ science/article/pii/S245222361630075X) present the latest accomplishment in the use of green organic solvents in analytical extraction and chromatographic separation processes. Farid Chemat and co-workers (http:// www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452223616300736) provide an instantaneous picture of current knowledge on green solvents used in analytical sample preparation and extraction of natural products. Maaike C. Kroon and co-authors (http://www.sciencedirect. com/science/article/pii/S2452223616300967) look at the application of deep eutectic solvents in the separation processes of oil and gas such as dearomatization, desulfurization, and the removal of glycerol from biofuel and natural gas sweetening. Merichel Plaza and coworkers (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/ pii/S245222361730007X) describe the changes in physicochemical properties of water from ambient to nearcritical conditions, and then discuss some of the most relevant applications of subcritical water extraction in recent years. Xiangping Zhang and co-workers (dx.doi. org/10.1016/j.cogsc.2017.03.015) review the capture performance and mechanism of CO2, SO2, H2S and NH3 in conventional and functionalized ionic liquids, and summarize the methods for ionic liquids screening with COSMOS-RS, a process simulation, assessment and design of new ionic liquids-based gas separation processes. Sheng Dai and co-workers (http://www. sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/ S2452223616300931) give an overview of progress in the fabrication of ionic liquids hybrid solvents for CO2 capture, and discuss the advantages and disadvantages associated with these hybrid solvents. Supercritical carbon dioxide and its expanded liquids are another kind of green solvents. The former has been used as a green solvent in biomaterials impregnation and building dry powder formulations. Ana Rita Cruz Duarte and co-workers (dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsc. 2017.03.014) sum up the recent progresses in supercritical CO2 assisted impregnation of active compounds
www.sciencedirect.com
iii
and therapeutic deep eutectic systems for biomedical applications. Ana Aguiar-Ricardo (http://www. sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452223616300748) considers the integration technologies of supercritical CO2 assisted spray drying. Elena Ibáñez and coworkers (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/ pii/S2452223616300955) describe the physical properties and the most recent applications of carbon dioxide expanded liquids and switchable solvents as well as their possible role as green solvents in sustainable chemical processes. Molecular modelling of green solvents is a powerful tool for a microscopic understanding of interactions, processes and phenomena. Sundaram Balasubramanian and co-authors (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ article/pii/S2452223617300044) detail the recent progress in the modelling studies of ionic liquids, supercritical carbon dioxide, organic carbonates, deep eutectic solvents, and comment their applications in electrochemistry and biomolecular dissolution. In addition, dimethyl carbonate is a valuable and green platform chemical and/or solvent because it is non-toxic and biodegradable in the atmosphere. Rajni Hatti-Kaul and co-workers (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ article/pii/S2452223617300019) review the physical-, thermodynamic-, toxicological- and ecotoxicological properties, production methods, reactivity, and applications of dimethyl carbonate in chemical- and biotechnical processes. This issue provides a highly useful source for any scientists working in the fields of CO2 capture, gas separation, nano-material preparation, organic solar cell, extraction and purification of bioactive compounds, oil and gas industrial applications of green solvents, biomass utilization, biomedicine, and green solvents for sample preparation in analytical chemistry. We hope that you enjoy reading these reviews, and maybe they will encourage you to join the research fields of design, development and application of green solvents.
References 1.
Brennecke JF, Maginn EJ: Ionic liquids: innovative fluids for chemical processing. AIChE J. 2001, 47:2384.
2.
Anastas PT, Warner JC: Green chemistry theory and practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1998.
Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry 2017, 5:ii–iii