Bayer among favorites for German Sustainability Award

A novel process for the production of plastics using carbon dioxide has made Bayer AG a favorite for this year’s German Sustainability Award. The company is among the top three candidates in the category “Germany’s Most Sustainable Initiatives.” Bayer was nominated for the Dream Production research project, which aims to turn the greenhouse gas CO2 into a useful raw material. This could ultimately provide the chemical industry with an alternative to increasingly scarce resources such as petroleum.

The winners in the various categories will be announced in Düsseldorf on November 4 as part of the celebration of German Sustainability Day. The jury’s nomination of Bayer acknowledges the company’s commitment to the “energy efficient, conservational and environmentally compatible use of CO2.” The use of CO2, a waste product that is harmful to the climate, in a production process is a “dream” that Bayer is pursuing with a “viable prospect of success” according to the citation.

“We are pleased and proud to be among the leading candidates for this important award,” says Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Plischke, the member of the Bayer Board of Management responsible for Technology, Innovation and Environment. “At the same time, we see this as a confirmation of our comprehensive sustainability strategy that is reflected in numerous processes, products and solutions in the fields of health care, nutrition and high-quality materials.”

According to Patrick Thomas, CEO of the Bayer MaterialScience subgroup which has overall responsibility for the project, “Dream Production has the potential of triggering a significant change in the raw material base of the chemical industry thanks to the exemplary combination of intercompany collaboration and applied research.”

The new process is currently undergoing thorough testing with the objective of beginning industrial production in 2015. A pilot plant brought on stream by Bayer in Leverkusen in February is using carbon dioxide from the power generation industry to produce a chemical precursor for the production of polyurethanes. Polyurethanes are used in many aspects of everyday life and help to save energy and protect the climate. When used to insulate buildings against heat or cold, they can save around 70 times more energy than is used in their production.

The CO2 used is sourced from a power plant operated by RWE Power, which in addition to Bayer Technology Services, the CAT Catalytic Center in Aachen and RWTH Aachen University, is among the partners participating in the project. The university’s responsibilities include subjecting the new process to comprehensive ecological and economic scrutiny while also comparing it with conventional processes and products.

The German Sustainability Award has been each year since 2008 and is under the patronage of German Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel. The award recognizes companies that are exemplary in their efforts to combine economic success with social responsibility and conservation of the environment.

 

Renaissance of 200-year old technology could ease 21st century sustainability challenges

The obscure technology used in heated automobile seats, gadgets that charge iPhones from the heat of a campfire, and other devices is undergoing a renaissance and could well emerge as a new "green" substitute for traditional sources of energy and play other key roles in addressing some of society's most pressing sustainability issues. That's the conclusion of an article on the technology — termed thermoelectrics — in the current issue of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN) the American Chemical Society's weekly newsmagazine.

In the article, C&EN Senior Editor Mitch Jacoby points out that the key scientific discoveries underpinning thermoelectrics date to the early 1800s. The effect involves direct conversion of temperature differences to electric current and the use of electric current to either absorb or release heat, thereby cooling or heating objects. Thermoelectric technology is at the heart of climate-conditioned car seats, gadgets that recharge personal electronics from campfires, and could be used in refrigerators with no moving parts, and an array of other applications.

Manufacturers in the 1960s were actively producing thermoelectric cooling and power-supply devices. Although that niche market, mainly for the military and aerospace industries remained, interest in the thermoelectric effect dwindled. But during recent years, there has been resurgence in interest from both manufacturers and scientists. Advances in materials used to make thermoelectric devices are paving the way for multiple new applications, described in the article.

More information: “Thermoelectrics Make a Comeback” at http://pubs.acs.or … 925sci1.html

Provided by American Chemical Society (news : web)

Chemist focuses on education for real-world sustainability challenges

 Introductory college science classes need to improve their coverage of issues related to sustainability, a noted chemistry educator told the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

"Across the nation, we have a problem," said Catherine Middlecamp, a distinguished faculty associate in chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "We are using a 20th-century curriculum, and this is the 21st century."

Students, Middlecamp says, want a curriculum that will prepare them for upcoming challenges related to climate change, pollution and environmental health.

"You can see, from the questions they ask, the volunteer projects they undertake and the papers they write, that they are intensely concerned about the fate of the planet and the living realm. And because many of our students will not be taking another science course, it's vital that our introductory courses prepare them for their future," she says.

Middlecamp discounts the idea that a focus on sustainability will make courses less rigorous. "The chemical equation I balanced in 1968 is still balanced the same way today, but when I teach about energy, air quality or climate change, the data and the interpretations are changing all the time. They are a moving target," she says.

Rather than being watered down, "teaching in context, teaching that is connected to the real world is actually tougher," Middlecamp says, "because the curriculum that some consider rigorous actually has most of the answers in the back of the book, whereas we are dealing with issues where we don't know the exact nature of the question, much less what the best answers will be."

Middlecamp supervised the new edition of "Chemistry in Context," a textbook published by the American Chemical Society, and wrote its new chapter on sustainability. She has taught introductory chemistry at UW-Madison for 30 years.

In her courses, Middlecamp must teach the basics about chemical reactions and bonding, but to that she adds key concepts for environmental sustainability, such as the carbon cycle and the nitrogen cycle.

"Here's a key concept: Everything comes from somewhere and goes somewhere," she says.

Elise Niedermeier, who took Middlecamp's introductory chemistry class in 2007 and is now in graduate school at the University of Minnesota, says, "I was struck by the way [Middlecamp] connected her lessons to everyday life. Her enthusiasm and expert teaching made the material she presented on sustainability compelling and easy to link to everyday life."

Middlecamp notes that sustainability allows her to approach standard chemistry topics from new directions. "A class can start by discussing pollution from diesel engines, and still cover bonding and how to balance chemical reactions. At the same time, it satisfies a desire to learn about energy and air quality," she says.

The real world -- and its future -- are always on Middlecamp's mind as she teaches. "A chemistry course ought to be the start of a conversation, not the end of one," she says. "Often, the response I get is, 'Thank you for teaching a course that connects with my life today and the kind of things I will be doing, and for caring about for the rest of my life.'"

Change in the curriculum could be coming faster, Middlecamp says. "It takes time to change a course, especially one that is taught at a large university to thousands of students each semester, but colleagues are definitely thinking about this," she says. "These topics are exciting, timely and urgent, and these changes would benefit not only the discipline, but also our students and the university. It's not a choice between teaching content or teaching in context. We can do both, and we must do both.

"Students are looking to make the world a better place, and we need to do what we can to help."

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations ) from materials provided by University of Wisconsin-Madison, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.