chemical engineering and sustainability: the need...
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Chemical Engineering and Sustainability:
The need for holistic education and practiceProf. Rodrigo Lozano
email: [email protected] of Gävle
May, 2019 AMIDIQHuatulco, Mexico
Sustainability
• During the last four decades, there have been a number of efforts aimed at addressing economic disparity, environmental degradation, and social inequalities, evolving from the ‘Environmental Revolution’ to Sustainable Development (SD)
• Sustainability is aimed at addressing the negative economic, environmental, and social impacts of this generation and future ones
(Lozano, 2008)
SustainabilityDimensions
EconomicEnvironmental
SocialTime
Civil Society
Government (Public sector organisations)
Corporations
Actors
Source: (DeSimone & Popoff, 2000)
Sustainability tools and initiatives• Circular Economy• Cleaner Production• Corporate Citizenship• Corporate Social Responsibility• Corporate Sustainability• Design for Environment• Eco-efficiency• Eco-labelling• Environmental Management
Systems (EMAS and ISO 14000 series)
• Factor X• Green/sustainable Chemistry• Green/sustainable Marketing• Industrial Ecology• Integrated Management Systems• Life Cycle Assessment• Socially/Sustainable Responsible
Investment• Sustainability Reporting (AA1000,
GRI, ISO 26000, SA8000)• Sustainable Supply Chains• The Natural Step• Triple Bottom Line
Sustainability approaches in the chemical industry• The chemical industry has generated considerable
wealth and economic growth during the last two centuries (Arora et al., 1998)
• Green chemistry, green engineering, eco-efficiencyhave become a necessity for assessing and managing products and processes in the chemical industry, as well as contributing to more sustainable societies
Green chemistry
• Green chemistry can be used as a basis for assessing chemical processes in their early conceptual and design stages (Anastas and Warner, 1998)
• There are three main approaches to foster Green chemistry (Lozano et al. 2013):
• Policy initiatives (e.g.REACH and SAICM)• Science and technology• (Sustainable) Business models
Green engineering and ecoefficiency
• Green engineering can help in selecting appropriate chemical processes that can help modulate decision making (Anastas and Zimmerman, 2003)
• Ecoefficiency can help evaluate environmental and economic issues for goods and services in businesses (OECD, 1998; Verfaillie, 2000)
Chemical Leasing• A business model based on collaborative approaches between
two or more industrial partners, where one uses the chemical and the other provides their service, so that environmental impacts and use of hazardous chemical are reduced
• As a principle of leasing, it involves unlimited access to chemicals from the user
• The types of chemicals that are covered by the concept are non-reactant products that are easy to recovery and have a high recovery rate (over 75%)
(Lozano, et al. 2014)
• Each initiative has its advantages in regards to scope and focus in the dimensions and the system elements, but it also has disadvantages when it comes to dealing with the complexity and broadness of sustainability
• Relying only, or even mainly, in one initiative can result on a limited and narrow contribution to sustainability
Initiatives discussion (1)
• One of the least addressed elements of the company system has been organisational systems
• Technocentric and managerial fixes are deficient, especially when they are relied upon as the sole ‘fix’, and, rather, the answer lies in engaging holistically with ‘people’ in changing companies in order to help current generations and future ones to become more sustainable
Initiatives discussion (2)
Was
te
External Environment
Value added (based on efficiency and effectiveness)
Infrastructure
Material resources and Energy
Economic value
Environmental value
Human resources
Contribution to Sustainability
Resources
Supply Chain Upstream (through
procurement)
Supply ChainDownstream(marketing, sales, etc.)
Internal Environment
TIME
Company
`Products and Services
Economic value
Environmental value
Human resources
INPUTS
OUTPUTS
External stakeholders
Governments/institutions
Customers, consumers, clients
CompetitorsCompanies
Civil society
Suppliers
Other organisations
Shareholders
Employees
Management
Unions
Internalstakeholders
Recovery
Management and
strategy
Operations and
production
Organisational
systems
Governance
Assessment and
reporting
Chemical engineering and sustainability education• Sustainability concepts must be intertwined within existing
courses (see Lozano and Lozano 2014), and inter-faculty collaboration must be promoted
• Some examples include:• BSc Engineering for Sustainable Development, Monterrey Tec, Mexico• BSc Chemical Engineering - Sustainable Chemical Technologies,
Berlin International College, Germany
Corporations (e.g. in the chemical industry) must address sustainability in a holistic way,
including technical, managerial, organisational, and governance approaches,
as well as their stakeholders
We need to educate future chemists and chemical engineers to contribute to more
sustainable societies in holistic and transdisciplinary approaches
Thank you!Prof. Rodrigo LozanoEmail: [email protected]
You can find more information at:Lozano, F. J., & Lozano, R. (2014). Developing the curriculum for a new Bachelor’s degree in Engineering for Sustainable Development. Journal of Cleaner Production, 64, 136–146. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.08.022Lozano, F. J., Lozano, R., Freire, P., Jiménez-Gonzalez, C., Sakao, T., Ortiz, M. G., … Viveros, T. (2018). New perspectives for green and sustainable chemistry and engineering: Approaches from sustainable resource and energy use, management, and transformation. Journal of Cleaner Production, 172, 227–232. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.10.145Lozano, R., Carpenter, A., & Satric, V. (2013). Fostering green chemistry through a collaborative business model: A Chemical Leasing case study from Serbia. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 78(November), 136–144. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2013.07.007