Three recent open access articles on the topic of Sustainability, in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Green Chemistry, that caught our attention and may be of interest to fellow process chemists.
The first is an obituary for roger sheldon, one of the pioneers in the field, who passed away in October 2025. https://lnkd.in/eWf8sb6p
Roger was the inventor of the E-factor metric and one of the clearest thinkers on the problem of waste in our field of study. Indeed, many of the examples of waste in our Scientific Update courses come from by Roger’s publications, and he was one of our first tutors. The obituary not only highlights Roger’s scientific achievements, willingness to think in novel and creative ways, but also his character and good humor. As the obituary concludes, “He will be sorely missed by chemists everywhere. He was irreplaceable”.
The second article is a proposal to update the 12 principles of green chemistry written by Bruce Lipshutz and Sachin Handa. https://lnkd.in/eugA2Fa3
Many of the themes in the article follow on from Roger’s work, especially the mandate to not create waste and to use telescoped catalytic processes whenever possible, but also to challenge the status quo. Many readers may disagree with the proposals to update the 12 principles and may dispute some of the assertions made in the paper, but most importantly it is only by challenging our assumptions and discussing the uncomfortable truth that many of our practices as an industry are unsustainable that we can really make progress.
The final article is by researchers from BASF providing an industrial perspective on the path to achieving net-zero emissions and a circular feedstock base for the chemical industry.
https://lnkd.in/eZZbUf5j
Roger’s publications often highlighted how the pharmaceutical and fine chemical industries are completely dependent on the bulk chemical industry for their feedstock so transforming this industry is vital to our attempts to improve sustainability. The article is written with a refreshing clarity that provides an excellent primer for readers on topics such as supply chains for carbon and hydrogen, the need for non-fossil feedstocks, how to reduce energy requirements and change to renewable energy sources, and finally the economic context and tools needed to deliver materials that fit-for-purpose and carbon neutral for our industries and for us as consumers.
