Key Initiatives in Sustainable
Development
Dr M G Palekar
Atul Ltd
The Game Changers
Factors that have contributed to change in approach in
chemical industry:
• Increasing Demand for products
• Climate Change (GHG)/ Carbon footprint
• Environment/ Pollution Awareness
• REACH
• Limited resources (oil/ gas/ coal/ water)
• Sustainable Development movement !
E-Factor
• Chemical industry is one of the major polluting
industries
• E factor = Amount of waste generated/kg of product
Industry Production/ Year E-factor
Oil refining Several Million T 0.1-0.5
Bulk Chemicals Several 1000 T 1-5
Fine Chemicals Few 1000 T 5-50
Bulk Actives Few 100 25-100
Sustainable Development
It is the development that meets the needs of present
without compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs (World Commission on
Environment Development)
It is the pattern of resource use that aims to meet human
needs while preserving the environment so that these
needs can be met not only in the present but also for
generation to come.
Sustainable Development
• Green Chemistry (Organic Synthesis/ Heterogenous
Catalysis/ Biocatalysis/ Solvents)
• Process Intensification (Reactor design/ Mixing/
Reaction kinetics/ Downstream Processing)
• Water Conservation (Steam/ Cooling Tower/ Process)
Green Chemistry
Major Principles:
• Design safer chemicals & products
• Design less hazardous chemical synthesis
• Use renewable feedstock
• Use catalysts, and not stoichiometric reagents
• Maximise atom economy
• Increase energy efficiency
• Design chemicals & products to degrade after use
• Analyze in real time to prevent pollution/ waste
Organic chemistry can give conversion
as per stoichiometric principles;
the competitive edge is gained by
mastering down-stream processing!
Process Intensification
Any engineering development that leads
to a substantially smaller, cleaner, safer
and more energy efficient technology.
Process Intensification
• Reactor Design (Gas-Liquid Contactors/ Rotating
Packed Bed/ Monolithic/ Static Mixer/ Spinning Disk/
Micro/ Falling Film/ Cavitation/ Fluidized Moving Bed)
• Mixing (Agitator design/ Static Mixer/ Micro Nano pump)
• Downstream Processing
- Sonocrystallization
- HIGEE distillation
- Chromatographic Separation
- Micronization using ultrasound
Process Research & Technology-
Focus Areas
• Synthetic Organic Chemistry (catalyst, pressure,
temperature, additives, solvent)
• Physical Chemistry (solvent selection, crystallography)
• Engineering design (Reaction kinetics, Mixing, Heat
transfer)
• Downstream Processing (filtration, distillation,
purification, crystallization, drying, milling)
• Material Balance (Product, By-Product, RM, Solvent,
Catalyst, Gaseous/ Liquid/ Solid waste)
• Process Safety (Critical parameters/ hot spots)
Clean Technology Pool
• Clean/ environmentally
Micro-
Alternate Reactor friendly technologies
Continuous
Energy
Process • Some of the technologies
are in development stage.
Solventless • Lower waste generation &
Cavitation
Process
energy consumption
Clean
Technologies
• Improved product quality/
yield
Renewable
Nanotech
Feedstock • Can be made continuous
• Hence help in optimum
Chromato-
graphic Catalysis
usage of resources
Separation Enzymatic
Conversion
Maximise Atom Efficiency
Tools for increasing productivity:
• Use solid catalyst/ immobilized enzyme in reaction
synthesis, which can be recycled
• Batch vs. continuous process
• Micro-reactor/ Novel reactor/ reactor design (fluid
dynamics/ mixing)
• Efficient Downstream processing (purification by column
chromatography, crystallization using cavitation, energy
efficient drying, milling using cavitation)
Profit from/ Control of Waste
Approach to reduce waste & improve margins:
1. By-products from crude/ waste by chemical process
2. Solvents recovery/ recycle
3. Metals/ by-products/ raw material
4. Solvent vent/ handling losses
5. Continuous reaction/ micro reactors/ specialty reactors
6. Replace activated carbon by synthetic resins
7. Cavitation technology for waste water treatment
Green Technologies @ Atul
• Cavitation (Chemical Reaction, Waste Water
Treatment, Cooling water treatment, Crystallization &
Milling)
• Chromatographic Separation (Purification of
intermediates/ APIs, Recovery of by-products/ metals
from waste)
• Biocatalysis (Chemical reaction with high selectivity at
room temperature)
• Novel Reactors (efficient mixing/ heat exchange,
increased productivity/ selectivity, lower energy
consumption)
Green Technologies- Areas of Operation
• Chemical Reaction- Cavitation, Bio-catalysis, Novel
Reactors (Batch & Continuous processes)
• Downstream Processing- Cavitation, Chromatographic
Separation
• Recovery from Waste- Chromatographic Separation
• Waste Treatment- Cavitation
Cavitation Technology
Ultrasonic Cavitation
- Crystallization (PS distribution, higher bulk density, crystal form)
- Milling (Fines control)
- Reaction (higher reaction rate, improved selectivity/ yield)
Hydrodynamic Cavitation
- Cooling Water treatment (no chemical usage, microbial growth
control, scale formation control, lower corrosion, less water blowdown)
- Reaction (higher reaction rate, improved selectivity/ yield)
Advantages: Continuous process, lower energy consumption,
improved productivity
Challenges: Process Scale-up
Chromatographic Separation
Applications:
• Removal of impurities/ Purification of products
(Chemicals/ Pharma intermediates)
• Recovery of Solvent/ By-product/ metal from waste
Advantages: Cleaner process, improved yield, better quality of
product, impurity can be removed selectively minimal use of solvent,
Continuous process
Challenges: Initial investment can be high
Biocatalysis
Reactions
• Esterification
• Chiral Synthesis
Advantages: Higher yield/ selectivity, lower/ room temperature
reaction
Challenges: Cost effective enzyme availability, effective
immobilization
Reactor Design
• Batch to continuous process conversion leading to
improved conversion/ yield/ product quality (Cascade/
plug flow reactors)
• Continuous process in bio-transformation
• Novel gas-liquid-solid reactors using cavitation/ efficient
fluid mixing.
• Falling Film reactor
Holistic Approach- Success Story
• Specialty Chemical; several 100 TPA production
• Based on material balance identified areas of atom
efficiency improvements & e-factor reduction
• Optimized Reaction parameters- reduced reaction time/
solvent usage/ water usage
• Color Removal-Replace activated carbon by synthetic resin
• Cavitation technology for crystallization & Particle Size
control
• Recovery of By-product, RM & metal catalyst from waste
• Recovery of solvent from vent/ handling losses by
adsorption
Conclusion: Improved productivity/ quality of product,
lower waste
Some More Successes
• Recovery of solvents from waste
• Reduction in water usage by 12% and COD by 20% in
spite of increased production
• Productivity increase by 30% in a pharma intermediate
• Environmentally friendly process for reduction using
hydrogenation instead of sulfide
• Continous phosgenation for chloroformates
“Socialism collapsed because it did not allow the
market to tell the economic truth.
Capitalism may collapse because it does not allow the
market to tell the ecological truth.”
Oystein Dahle, former VP- Exxon (Norway & North Sea)
in ‘Hot, Flat & Crowded’- Thomas Friedman
