Issue 5, 2023

The E factor at 30: a passion for pollution prevention

Abstract

The introduction of the E Factor in 1992 focussed attention on the problem of waste generation, defined as everything but the desired product, in chemicals manufacture and gave rise to a paradigm shift in our concept of efficiency in chemical processes, from one based solely on chemical yield to one that assigns value to eliminating waste. Thirty years later, it has become clear that waste is the underlying cause of the major global environmental problems, from climate change to plastic pollution and that the solution to this ubiquitous waste problem is pollution prevention at source enabled by green and sustainable chemistry. The role played by (bio)catalysis, alternative solvents, the emergence of a carbon neutral circular economy based on renewable resources and the electrification of chemicals manufacture based on renewable energy in the drive towards pollution prevention and sustainable industries is delineated.

Graphical abstract: The E factor at 30: a passion for pollution prevention

Article information

Article type
Critical Review
Submitted
13 12月 2022
Accepted
16 1月 2023
First published
17 1月 2023
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Green Chem., 2023,25, 1704-1728

The E factor at 30: a passion for pollution prevention

R. A. Sheldon, Green Chem., 2023, 25, 1704 DOI: 10.1039/D2GC04747K

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements