Reinventing Chemistry for the Circular Age

Photo on Unsplash by Chuttersnap

Chemistry is described as the study of matter. It plays a vital role in the toothpaste we use, the food we consume, the medicines we need, the fuel for our automobiles, energy storage systems, and most products and services. It influences our life from the personal to the global level, with about 96% of all manufactured goods linked to the chemical industry. It is one of the biggest industries in the world. As we have seen the role of chemistry on our planet, let's look at how the current chemistry impacts our lives.

Like any other industry, it consumes energy, mainly from fossil fuels, and then produces emissions during production. This industry accounts for 5% of global GHG emissions and approximately 10% of energy consumption. This is mainly because the industrial focus has not been on efficiency, emissions, or the energy required.

There are about 140,000 industrial chemicals marketed worldwide. According to WHO estimates, interactions with hazardous chemicals contribute to approximately two million deaths annually, primarily from materials like dyes, electronic devices, and pesticides, which have also led to numerous suicide cases among farmers. This 19th-century invention has been causing severe and long-lasting challenges, far beyond what the inventor, Leo Baekeland, could imagine.

High-density polyethene (HDPE) has a half-life of a thousand years in the oceans. Around 359 million tons of plastic were produced worldwide in 2018. Due to poor management systems, only a fraction is directed to recycling or reuse. Plastics have found their way everywhere humans go due to mismanagement. Microplastics are another problem, they have entered our food chain, and the health implications are yet to be discovered.

It is time to transition from a “take-use-dispose” model to a circular one, where the focus shifts to using durable plastics rather than single-use ones, and many more such ideas.

How to Reinvent Chemistry

There have been three central ideas revolving around reinventing chemistry.

Circular Chemistry adapts circular economy principles in chemistry, with ideas like seeing waste as a resource, maximising the usage of materials, ensuring chemicals do not release into the environment, and designing for end of life by considering separation, purification, and disintegration.

Green Chemistry says preventing waste is easier than cleaning it, and encourages using safe chemicals that meet the function while causing minimal effect on nature. It also focuses on renewable feedstock, like bio-based polyethene from sugarcane, to reduce dependency on fossil fuels.

Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) has four central pillars: safety, environment, social, and economic. The primary focus is to create products or chemicals that cause less harm throughout their lifecycle by designing them that way.

Major Steps

Shifting from fossil-based feedstock is essential, as it is non-renewable and harmful to the environment. There are many alternatives for energy, such as biofuels like bioethanol, which are derived using technologies like hydrothermal liquefaction, where we can produce bio-oil from algae. Using plastic waste to upgrade into new materials of higher value is also possible. Another technology, Direct Air Carbon Capture, will reduce atmospheric carbon and can be used to make carbon blocks for multiple purposes.

Current recycling technology fails to keep the value of materials and often lowers it. New technologies are capable of maximising material potential. Concepts like molecular recycling break down products to their virgin forms. Purification helps to remove colours and additives, giving polymers comparable to virgin materials. Upcycling of chemicals can also make recycling more economically friendly, despite higher market costs. For example, polybutylene terephthalate can be converted into biodegradable polyester (PBC).

Catalysts are often silent but critical in the chemical industry, as 90% of processes rely on them. They must use earth-abundant materials like iron instead of rare materials that are more difficult to break down at the end.

Policy should shift from decarbonization to defossilization to remove fossil feedstocks from the value chain. The chemical industry is highly traditional, and change will not happen without financial incentive. Digital product passports and identification for chemicals should be transparent to let consumers make greener choices by understanding the implications of the products or chemicals.

Existing challenges

As I mentioned, this is one of the largest industries, with complex processes producing various chemicals using completely different base chemicals and methods. The whole infrastructure was created to meet economic demand, and shifting from this means having new feedstocks other than fossil-fuel-based ones in such vast quantities and variety. Another challenge is making this change happen without economic loss; decoupling is necessary.

Three or more frameworks are being followed, but they are not interconnected or prioritised. Considering the industry's complexity and scale, there should be an intensive study on how to make a smooth transition. Producing defossilised ethylene is estimated to cost 3 times more than its current market price. Recycled materials must be cost-competitive with virgin materials, as no industry will produce products for a loss.

Also, the energy required to recycle materials is often higher than that of producing new products, which makes recycling less desirable. Even though there have been technological breakthroughs, scaling these pilot processes into an industrial scale requires careful consideration, as energy, resources, time, and impact factors are often unmet. Due to complexity and the vast variety of waste, much of it is usually discarded because it is unclear whether it is safe.

Different additives make recycling more complicated, as individual methods and procedures must be designed for numerous products and chemicals. Even with that, not all materials can be recycled. Thermosets, foams, and plastic packaging require significant capital and time investment to be recovered and processed for recycling or reuse.

There has been an enormous lock-in of machinery, infrastructure, and resources due to the traditional “take-make-dispose” model. It is estimated that at least of US $ 1 trillion is needed to reinvent the system.

To shift from fossil-based feedstock, substitutes like bio-based alternatives are needed. Past examples have shown that bioethanol from corn and sugarcane has negatively impacted food production and natural systems. Managing land use to meet this necessity will be challenging now and in the future.

The amount of awareness of the problems caused by chemicals is very low among the general public, and providing information regarding the implications of the products people consume is lacking.

Change is happening

Organisations like CircularChem have published 70+ peer-reviewed publications and 30+ policy submissions. This momentum helps create discussions and summits and influences government policies. The UK government has decided to exempt recycled plastic from the plastic packaging tax, making investment in recycling more favourable for companies.

Green chemistry practices have also been adopted in many industries. For example, IKEA replaced formaldehyde-based particle board resin with bio-based adhesive, which reduced VOC emissions. Various notable actions and changes have happened, but the pace is still slower than required.

What can we do

Replacing fossil feedstock is challenging due to the immense quantity of alternatives needed. Immense focus should be given to research and development on green chemistry. Ideas should be nurtured in schools, and innovation is a must.

The idea of post-growth seems highly attractive, as it reduces unnecessary products. Taxes on unnecessary goods with giant material footprints, like cosmetics, fast food, and supplements, would be a good start. Focusing on natural-based lifestyle products without industrial influence and purchasing products from local regions is the way forward.

Way forward

We are already behind. The damages caused by the chemical industry are huge, such as plastic in the deep ocean or microplastics in our food chain. People have already lost their lives due to harmful chemicals.

The good news is that people have started to realise this, scientists, companies, and governments. But substantial progress remains limited, and the window for meaningful change is narrowing. It depends on consumers making small changes by choosing eco-labelled products, companies promoting recycled materials, and governments incentivising these products with supportive policies and initiatives to reinvent chemistry for our future.