Chemical Processes for a Sustainable Future

This comprehensive book approaches sustainability from two directions, the reduction of pollution and the maintaining of existing resources, both of which are addressed in a thorough examination of the main chemical processes and their impact. Divided into five sections, each introduced by a leading expert in the field, the book takes the reader through the various types of chemical processes, demonstrating how we must find ways to lower the environmental cost (of both pollution and contributions to climate change) of producing chemicals. Each section consists of several chapters, presenting the latest facts and opinion on the methodologies being adopted by the chemical industry to provide a more sustainable future. A follow-up to Materials for a Sustainable Future (Royal Society of Chemistry 2012), this book will appeal to the same broad readership - industrialists and investors; policy makers in local and central governments; students, teachers, scientists and engineers working in the field; and finally editors, journalists and the general public who need information on the increasingly popular concepts of sustainable living.

Trevor M. Letcher is Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He is a past director of the International Asso- ciation of Chemical Thermodynamics and his research involves the thermodynamics of liquid mixtures and energy from landfill. He has published over 270 publications in peer review journals and edited, written or co-edited 13 books related to his research fields. His latest books are: Materials for a Sustainable Future (RSC, 2012), Unraveling Environmental Disasters (Elsevier, 2012), Future Energy: Improved, Sustainable and Clean Options for our Planet, 2nd edition (Elsevier, 2013) and Volumes Properties: Liquids, Solutions and Vapours (RSC, 2014).

Janet L. Scott is a Training Director at the Centre for Sustainable Chemical Technologies (CSCT), University of Bath. She has previously worked in both industry and academia in three di?erent countries: South Africa (University of Cape Town, 1992–1995; R&D Manager, Fine Chemicals Corporation, 1996–1998); Australia (Monash University1999–2006) where she was the deputy director of the Centre for Green Chemistry; and the UK, where she held a Marie Curie Senior Transfer of Knowledge Fellowship at Unilever R&D, Port Sunlight, UK (2006–2008). She maintains an active consulting company working with industry on sustainable chemical solutions and research interests currently centre on bio-derived chemicals and materials. She works closely with chemical engineers and industrial partners at CSCT.

Darrell A. Patterson is currently a senior lecturer in chemical engineering and a member of the Centre for Sustainable Chemical Technologies (CSCT) at the University of Bath. He leads the Bath Process Intensification Laboratory and the cross-faculty Bath Mem- brane research cluster Membranes@Bath, the UK’s largest academic cluster of academics focusing on membrane science and technology research. He has previously worked at WS Atkins Consultants (2001–2003), Imperial College London (2003–2005) and the University of Auckland (2005–2011). His research is in three main (but related) areas, all aiming to characterise and produce process intensification to develop more sustainable technologies: membrane science and engineering; catalytic reactions and reactor engineering; and waste- water treatment technologies. He has over 70 papers in these areas (including over 40 peer reviewed journal papers).