School of Chemical & Biochemical Engineering

August 2016

Yoel Sasson ysasson@ntu.edu.sg Office: N1.2-B1-08 Phone 6514 1055

Syllabus: CH4220 Green Chemistry and Engineering.
3 Frontal hours per week first semester Thursdays 15:30-18:30 CBE-LT
The course includes 5 home assignments.
[1] General introduction: origin, current status and future of green chemistry and

engineering. Economic growth and natural resources depletion. . Global food and water
shortage. Pollution and global warming, Peak Oil and renewable energy. Definition of
sustainability. Sustainable development. Renewable resources. Metabolic society. Life cycle
assessments, Cradle to Cradle concept. Biorefinery and biofuels. Shale gas and GTL
processes.
[2] The tools of green chemistry. The twelve principles. Green chemistry as a reduction
process: pollution prevention and waste minimization. Waste management Hierarchy
reduction of energy consumption, reduction of risk and hazard.
Design of process flowchart for a laboratory synthetic procedure. Mass balance of
laboratory scale synthesis (p-bromophenol)
Basic Definitions and Metrics in Green Chemistry and Stoichiometry. Atom economy,
Environmental factor, potential environmental impact. Selectivity in singular and multiple
reactions. Degree of reaction and conversion.
[3] General properties of the chemical rate equation. Elementary step. The complete rate
equation. Instantaneous and overall yield and selectivity in parallel and consecutive multiple
reactions. Ideal reactors. Contacting patterns and selectivity. Activation energy and
selectivity. Kinetics of series-parallel reactions. Mixing effects on selectivity.
[4] General mole balance equation and design equations in ideal reactors: BR, CSTR, PFR PBR
and SBR. Mole balance for multiple reactions. Design algorithm for solving multiple reaction
mole balances. Maximizing selectivity in multiple reactions using different reactors.
Microreactors, membrane reactor, semibatch reactor. Combining mole balance, rate law and
stoichiometry in multiple reactions. Modeling and enhancement of selectivity of desired
products in complex reactions via temperature control, advanced catalysis and reactor
design. Solving and analyzing complex reaction networks using ODE software.
[5] Energy balance. Energy integration in the chemical plant. Heat exchange network. Pinch
analysis for energy integration. Energy and mole balance in non-isothermal reactors.
Algorithm for heat effects. Energy balance and selectivity for multiple reactions in nonisothermal steady state PFR/PBR.

[6] Mass integration in the chemical plant. Source-sink mapping diagram. Material recycle
Pinch Diagram, Sink and source composite curve. Design rules from material reuse Pinch
diagram. Industrial examples of mass integration.
[7] The concept of exergy and lost work. Exergy flow in chemical proceses. Exergy
efficiency.
[8] Hard and soft models. Selectivity and yield improvements in chemical processes via
statistical methods: design of experiments complete and partial factorial design as an
optimization tools. Screening of experimental variables. Design matrix and model matrix.
Examples from synthetic organic chemistry. Composite designs. DOE using Statgraphics
software.
[9] Environmental fate of chemicals. Chemical and physical properties estimation. Vapor
pressure, KOW, water solubility, bioconcentration factor, Henry's constant, soil sorption
coefficients, estimating environmental persistence, biodegradability and risk. Designing
safer chemicals. Metrics for environmental risk evaluation of chemicals: Global warming,
ozone depletion, acid rain, smog formation, toxicity.
[10] Fundamentals of industrial waste treatment: Characteristic of waste streams. Physical,
biological and chemical waste treatment. Kinetics and modeling of microbial growth and
substrate utilization. Aeration and oxygen mass transfer. Bioreactors. Aerobic and
anaerobic fermentation and oxidation. Biological nitrification and denitrification. Treatment
of toxic and refractory organic wastes. Chemical waste treatment. Fenton chemistry and
reactive oxygen species. Wet air oxidation.
[11] Environmental consequences of burning fossil fuels for generation of energy.
Flue gases treatment in power stations and in motor vehicles. FGD- flue gas desulfurization
(SOx removal). SCR- selective catalytic reduction (NOx removal).
Catalytic chemistry of the three-way catalytic converter in gasoline cars and SCR reactors
in diesel engines.
Catalysis of hydrotreating processes at the refinery.
Precombustion and postcombustion capture of CO2.
[12] Renewable sources of fuels and chemical feedstocks. Biodiesel and bioethanol.
Conversion and gasification of lingo-cellulose and biomass. Synthesis gas and FischerTropsch chemistry. Water gas shift reaction. Energy future beyond carbon: Renewable
energy sources. Energy storage, Hydrogen economy. Production and storage of hydrogen.
Fuel cells. Advanced batteries. Hydrogen and hybrid vehicles. The nuclear option.

Textbooks and References:

[1] M. Lancaster: Green Chemistry, an Introductory Text, RSC, Cambridge 2002
[2] D.A. Allen, D.R. Shonnard: Green Engineering, Prentice Hall 2002

[3] J.G. Concepcion D.J.C. Constable : Green Chemistry and Engineering: A Practical
Approach. Wiley 2011
[3] H.C. Fogler: Elements of Chemical Reaction Engineering IV Ed. Prentice Hall 2006
[4] J. de Swaan Arons et al.: Efficiency & Sustainability in the Energy and Chemical
Industries, Marcel Dekker 2004
[5] M. El-Halwagi: Process Integration, Academic Press 2006
[6] R. Carlson, J.E. Carlson: Design & Optimization in Organic Synthesis II Ed., Elsevier
2005
[7] G. Tchobanoglous et al.: Metcalf & Eddy, Wastewater Engineering, McGraw Hill 2003