The beauty is in the process

This company is applying the principles of green chemistry, through a unique manufacturing process that dramatically cuts energy use, water use, CO2 and waste.

Alberta is a major producer of agricultural crops, with a significant petrochemical industry to boot. If we use our renewable crop-based feedstocks to make chemicals, challenging or displacing non-renewable oil, the result will be environmentally superior. Or will it?

Dr. Stephanie Clendennen, Research Associate with the Eastman Chemical Company in Kingsport, Tennessee, advocates a broader view on connections between renewable feedstocks, chemical manufacturing and environmental progress.

She recently visited Alberta as guest speaker at the Specialty Chemical Ingredient (SCI) Alberta Strategic Advisory Meeting for senior executives in the province’s cosmetic ingredient industry. SCI also sponsored Dr. Clendennen’s participation at the 3rd annual Biorefining Conversions Network (BCN) strategic retreat held November 30 to December 2 in Banff. SCI is focused on and helping to build a globally competitive plant-based cosmetic and personal care industry in Alberta.

“I’m a biologist with a background in biotechnology for agriculture,” explains Dr. Clendennen. “I’m a big proponent of bio-based raw materials and I think they are part of the answer. It’s not just about the raw materials, however, but also how you do the chemistry.”

In recent years, Eastman Chemical has been doing the chemistry in an especially productive way. In 2009, the company received the Presidential Green Chemistry award for a manufacturing process that reduces energy use and greenhouse gas emissions dramatically compared to conventional chemical production.

Green chemistry at work

Eastman’s award-winning manufacturing technology – now known as GEM^TM -- was launched to industry in 2011. As Dr. Clendennen explains, GEM^TM uses the Twelve Principles of Green Chemistry (see sidebar) endorsed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

“With GEM^TM, we use an enzymatic process and a renewable catalyst to make esters,” she says. "The outcome is a moisturizing ingredient for cosmetics. GEM^TM uses 59% less energy, 90% less water, produces 52% less CO2 and eliminates 100% of waste versus a traditional manufacturing process.”

The reason for GEM^TM’s environmental performance is that its process does not require high temperatures or strong acids. Worldwide, the market for all cosmetic esters was 500,000 metric tonnes in 2010, suggesting this is an area where green chemistry can achieve significant environmental benefits. GEM^TM’s major reduction of water and energy use in ester production also yields cost benefits from the manufacturing process.

In financial terms, by one estimate, the U.S. market for cosmetic ingredients was about $1 billion in size in 2010. Apart from this market, GEM^TM is seen as having an excellent fit with some other applications, such as green surfactants.

How green are your cosmetics?

Today, interest in the environmental footprint of consumer products is growing. Buyers of cosmetics, for example, are demanding greater use of natural ingredients. Leading cosmetic companies and brands – think L’Oreal, Johnson & Johnson and Avon – then turn to their ingredients suppliers for solutions.

By using the principles of green chemistry, including but not limited to bio-based raw materials, Eastman Chemical can give brands and consumers what they want. The use of natural, renewable raw materials is part of that story. Brands and consumers should also like Eastman’s reduction of energy and water use and virtual elimination of process waste.

“In 2012, we hope to have more products coming out of GEM^TM,” says Dr. Clendennen. “The overall impact of bio-based chemistry on the industry has been slow, but we will start to see a greater impact.”

Sidebar

EPA’s Twelve Principles of Green Chemistry*

1. Prevent waste, rather than clean it up
2. Maximize atom economy
3. Design less hazardous chemical syntheses, for workers & the environment
4. Design safer chemicals and products, for end-use applications
5. Use safer solvents, or eliminate them entirely
6. Increase energy efficiency
7. Use renewable feedstocks, whenever feasible
8. Avoid chemical derivatization, in the reaction process
9. Use catalysts, not stoichiometric reagents, more selective & efficient
10. Design products to biodegrade after use
11. Analyze reactions in real time, to prevent by-products
12. Minimize the potential for accidents, such as fire.