Application of Green Technology Chemistry in Fine Chemical Industry
After hundreds of years of development, chemical engineering has become one of the four major basic engineering projects, and the chemical industry has also become one of the basic industrial sectors of the world economy. However, with the development of the chemical industry, the problem of environmental pollution in the chemical industry has also received increasing attention. Today, when sustainable development has become a consensus of all mankind, people realize that the traditional chemical industry must change to adapt to the requirements of sustainable development.
Fine chemicals are the crown of modern academic studies and the key driving force for the development of the chemical industry. The level of fine chemicals in a country often represents the overall industrial technology level of the country. Today, with the increasingly severe energy problems, the simple processing of fossil energy raw materials to produce primary chemical industrial products can no longer bring enough power to the development of enterprises. Therefore, fine processing of fossil energy raw materials such as petroleum and the use of high-tech means to produce high-value-added chemical products not only meet the company’s demands for economic benefits, but also meet the current trend of making full use of limited resources. Fine chemicals are the direction for the chemical industry to achieve structural transformation and industrial upgrading, and play a vital role in promoting the development of industrial system.
However, while using fine chemical technology to increase the added value of products, it is also very easy to pollute the environment. Therefore, the capacity problem of the environment often restricts the development of the fine chemical industry. Some people have proposed the concept of “green fine chemicals”, believing that the fine chemical industry must develop in a “green” direction with low pollution or even no pollution. The emergence of green fine chemical technology has made it possible to achieve both high returns and low pollution.
Green chemical technologies and application
The application research of green chemical technologies can be carried out from many aspects, and there are certain differences in the technical research involved in different directions.
- Microchemical technology
Microchemical technology is mainly reflected in the improvement of some equipment, including satellite unit operating equipment, sensors, actuators, etc. The core of microchemical technology mainly refers to the combination of chemical production and micro-mixing, and the effective application of heat transfer technology. The disadvantage of microchemical technology is that the volume that can be accommodated is small, so it is also subject to certain restrictions in industry selection. Generally, the pharmaceutical industry is more suitable for microchemical technology.
- Green catalytic technology
Catalyst technology is a key technology in the chemical production process, which often determines the production cost, production difficulty and profit margin of the production process. The central idea of green catalytic technology is to reduce the by-products produced in the reaction process by improving and upgrading the catalyst in the process, reduce the harm of by-products to the environment, and improve productivity. It is to maximize the utilization of resources and implement the concept of green fine chemicals.
Usually catalytic technology can be divided into chemical catalysis and biocatalysis. At present, the biocatalytic technology commonly used in industrial applications refers to enzyme catalytic technology. Enzyme is a kind of protein with catalytic effect in organisms. It has strong catalytic activity and the reaction conditions are very mild, which greatly reduces the energy consumption in the chemical production process.The application of enzyme catalysis technology can also greatly reduce the generation of pollutants in the chemical production process. Therefore, enzyme catalysis technology has a good application prospect in the popularization of green fine chemical technology.
The green chemistry experiments is mainly phase transfer catalysis technology.The application of this technology allows the reactants to undergo chemical reactions under the action of catalysts in an immiscible two-phase system and improve the reaction rate of their original reactions. Under the action of phase transfer catalysts, the energy consumption of the reaction can be significantly reduced, making the reaction conditions mild.At the same time, the use of this catalyst can effectively inhibit side reactions. Reduce the generation of by-products, improve the selectivity of the reaction, increase the reaction rate, and realize the greening of the fine chemical production process.
- Supercritical fluid technology
At present, supercritical fluid technology generally referred to in the scientific field generally refers to supercritical carbon dioxide fluid technology.
This technology is developing rapidly, has a good environment, high maturity, and has a wide range of application prospects in fine chemical production. Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction technology has been widely used in the field of separation and purification of active substances. Supercritical carbon dioxide as a reaction medium can effectively reduce the difficulty of the reaction, greatly improve the extraction effect, and is non-toxic and harmless and very friendly to the environment.
At the same time, supercritical fluid technology has also achieved remarkable achievements in the preparation of polymer synthetic materials, and has made great breakthroughs in the production of nanomaterials and the preparation of thin film materials. Therefore, as a key technology for green fine chemicals, supercritical fluid technology has great application value and a wide range of prospects.
- Computer molecular simulation design technology
Computer molecular simulation design technology refers to the use of computers to simulate the synthesis, reaction, and purification processes of the molecular structure of new fine chemical products in the research and development stage during the chemical production process. Combined with the molecular properties, internal structure, production process and other factors of the product, the key factors affecting product quality and production efficiency in the fine chemical production process are found, and targeted optimization and upgrading are carried out for the problems found through computer simulation. The clean and green characteristics of computer simulation design technology are used to achieve clean and green production of fine chemicals.
- Coupling technology
Coupling technology is a technology that couples different operating steps in the chemical production process together, thereby reducing the equipment and operating steps of chemical production and the transfer of materials and energy, reducing energy consumption and pollution. For example, reactive distillation is to combine the chemical reaction process and the distillation separation process in the same tower, thereby reducing energy consumption and pollution.
Coupling technology is conducive to saving resources and energy, reducing pollution, and even improving production efficiency. Under the premise of not affecting the reaction and separation efficiency, different reactions or reaction and separation processes are preferably selected with the same solvent and auxiliary agent, and the reaction and separation processes can also be effectively coupled.
- Biochemical Technology
The main feature of biochemical technology is to use some basic characteristics of microorganisms to produce related fine chemicals, including chemical additives, daily necessities, etc. In addition, biochemical technology can also produce some harmless basic chemical raw materials, and can also produce different pesticides for agricultural applications.
- Membrane separation technology
Membrane separation technology has the advantages of low cost, low energy consumption, high efficiency, no pollution and recycling of useful substances. Membrane catalytic reactions can be carried out in a “super-balanced” manner, improving the selectivity of the reaction and the conversion rate of raw materials, saving resources and reducing pollution. Therefore, membrane technology will play an important role in green chemistry.
Argonne has developed a new method for synthesizing high-purity lactate using carbohydrates as raw materials. The membrane separation technology is used to achieve the selective separation of ammonium ions and water from alcohols such as ethanol. Compared with previous methods, a large amount of salt-containing wastewater is reduced. It has the characteristics of low energy consumption, high efficiency, good selectivity and low pollution.
- Electrochemical synthesis technology
The core idea of electrochemical synthesis technology is to rely on the transfer of electrons to achieve clean production in electrochemical reactors. Electrochemical synthesis technology is a common technology in green fine chemical technology, and the main methods include fuel cell method, sacrificial anode electrochemical synthesis method, SPE method organic electrochemical synthesis, etc.
The application of these electrochemical synthesis technologies can effectively improve reaction efficiency, reduce reaction by-products, reduce the generation of pollutants in the reaction, and realize clean and green production of fine chemicals.
Development trend and prospect of green chemical technologies
- Development trend of green chemical technolo
iesToday, the huge global crisis can be reflected in resource shortage. In order to more effectively respond to the slogan of sustainable development, the development of green chemical technology will inevitably be further promoted.With the continuous increase of the world’s total population, green chemical technology will need to continue to improve in environmental protection and energy saving in the future.
Since the role of catalysts is indispensable in many chemical reactions, in-depth research on catalytic technology is also a trend in the future development of green chemical technology.
- Prospects of green chemical technologies
The development of fine chemicals has caused great damage and consumption to the environment and resources on which human beings depend for survival while creating material wealth and improving people’s quality of life. We need to pay enough attention to it. Green fine chemical technology uses green raw materials and adopts environmentally friendly design and production methods to produce high-quality green fine chemicals, thereby achieving the fine chemical goals of atomic economy, “zero emissions” and sustainable development.
