Project Details:
Materials For A Sustainable Future
| Project No.: | 2011-042-1-022 |
| Start date: | 2012-01-01 |
| End date: | 2012-11-16 |
| Division: | Chemistry and the Environment Division |
This volume is a collection of 25 chapters which constitute a FOCUSED look at all aspects of chemicals linked to a SUSTAINABLE life on this planet. Our generation is using up elements from the earth that cannot be replaced and we are producing and wasting vast amounts of chemicals such as CO2 and CH4 which could be used for useful and sustainable purposes. Furthermore, some of our new processes, relating to a sustainable existence, require elements not often used in the past, and new compounds which need to be sourced and manufactured in an acceptable way. The common factors is all this are CHEMICALS and hence it is expected and indeed incumbent on the IUPAC and Chemical Societies around the world to take a lead in moving and directing the leaders of society towards a SUSTAINABLE future.
This book investigates these elements and compounds, looking at their availability and usefulness, now and in the future. It also looks at improving existing processes so that the materials can be exploited in a sustainable way.
The objective of book is to present in one volume details of the chemical materials in our society that need to be sustained: those that are becoming scarce and need to be conserved in some way; the renewable materials and the pollutants that can be used in new processes; and the new materials that can be designed to optimize sustainable use of the resources we have. In some ways the book is a ‘wake-up call’ for the human race to appreciate the loss of certain materials and the polluting of the planet with green-house gases. It is also a book showing how to utilize the intellectual and technological resources of chemistry as a way forward in maintaining the resources we have for ourselves and for future generations.
The books relates to CHEMICALS as used now and in the future and can be considered as a primer for INDUSTRIALISTS, ENVIRONMENTALISTS, CHEMISTS and ENGINEERS who are working towards a SUSTAINABLE FUTURE. This is something to which all people on Earth should be committed.
Our generation is rapidly denuding the planet of precious elements and producing environmentally unfriendly chemicals, leaving a sad and dismal legacy for future generations. This book focuses on these elements and compounds and points to better ways of utilizing them.
Draft contents
Introductory section - editors – Trevor M Letcher, University of KwaZulu-Natal; Matthew G Davidson; and Janet L Scott, University of Bath, UK
ELEMENTS THAT COULD SOON BE IN SHORT SUPPLY
1. Base metals
2. Improving materials/energy balances in metal recovery
3. Rare Earths
4. Gold
5. Platinum metals
6. Helium
7. Phosphorus
8. Uranium
SUSTAINABILITY RELATED TO BIOMASS
9. Aquatic biomass for the production of fuel and chemicals
10. Chemicals from Sugarcane
11. Biomass for the production of chemicals
12. Plastics from biomass
SUSTAINABILITY RELATED TO FEEDSTOCKS – CH4 AND CO2
13. CH4 for transport fuel production
14. CO2 capture
15. CO2 as a chemical feedstock in the production of chemicals and fuels
16. CO2 in the manufacture of plastics
17. CO2 as a solvent
MATERIALS RELATED TO ENERGY CONVERSION, STORAGE AND DISTRIBUTION
18. Battery and fuel cell materials
19. Materials for photovoltaics
20. Materials for water splitting
21. Materials for storing hydrogen
SUSTAINABILITY RELATED TO MATERIALS IN THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT AND TO WATER
22. Compounds used in membranes for water purification and recycling
23. Glass and new technologies
24. Sustainable materials in building and architecture
25. Biomass in composite materials
last update 20130321