Sustainability in the Chemical Industry: Grand Challenges and Research Needs

Through innovative design, creation, processing, use, and disposal of substances, the chemical industry plays a major role in advancing applications to support sustainability in a way that will allow humanity to meet current environmental, economic, and societal needs without compromising the progress and success of future generations. Based on a workshop held in February 2005 that brought together a broad cross section of disciplines and organizations in the chemical industry, this report identifies a set of overarching Grand Challenges for Sustainability research in chemistry and chemical engineering to assist the chemical industry in defining a sustainability agenda. These Grand Challenges include life cycle analysis, renewable chemical feedstocks, and education, among others.

• Front Matter
• Executive Summary
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Enabling Science and Technology That Drives the Application of Sustainable Chemistry
• 3. New Chemistries and Processes That Lead to Commercially Viable Alternative Feedstocks to Fossil Fuels
• 4. Addressing the Energy Intensity of the Chemical and Allied Process Industry
• 5. Sustainability Science Literacy and Education That Enables the Adoption of More Sustainable Practices in the Chemical Industry
• 6. Conclusions and Recommendations
• Appendix A. Statement of Task
• Appendix B. Committee Biosketches
• Appendix C. Workshop Agenda
• Appendix D. Workshop Summary
• Appendix E. Summary of Workshop Breakout Sessions
• Appendix F. Workshop Speaker Biographies
• Appendix G. List of Workshop Participants