Environment and Pollution – Contribution of Chemical Engineers

At the moment, Planet earth is our only habitat until Elon Musk succeeds in his mission of colonization of Mars. The current levels of pollution that we have created in the Earth’s atmosphere have put us in a dire need to remediate those conditions. The implementation of technologies to prevent more damage to the atmosphere is necessary to prolong the liveable conditions of life on Earth.

Chemical Engineers have a significant role to play in preserving the habitat in a viable condition. Only a chemical engineer can understand, develop and implement the actions required to prevent the habitat from further irreversible destruction. The following areas are recent burning environmental issues where the chemical engineer can be essentially useful,

Plastic Pollution

A great example of reducing plastic pollution is the initiative taken by Coca Cola. Towards 1991, the global climate change and non-degradable PET plastic disposal problems arose due to which Coca Cola was identified the number one plastic polluter. Thus, in 2009 and 2019 the company took major steps towards a sustainable environment. In 2009 Coca-Cola launched its first Dasani plant water bottle consisting of 30% plant material and remaining 70% from petroleum derivatives. This resulted in reduced amount of carbon emissions to the atmosphere.  Around 2019 - Coca-Cola manufactured world's first marine plastic recycled bottle. Coca Cola's long-term goal is to manufacture its bottles from 50% recycled plastics by the year 2030.

Waste Management

Waste is generated primarily from three sectors that include Municipal solid waste (MSW), Commercial & industrial (C&I) and Construction & Demolition (C&D).  MSW comprises of the domestic and other waste generated or managed by the local government. The conversion of MSW into energy seems to have a promising future. The technology for MSW to energy conversion is a lucrative business in countries where the landfill levy is high and so is the tipping fee for waste collection. Chemical engineers have a great scope in waste management and can help curb the landfill issues.

Renewable Energy

Three types of renewable energy which include solar, biofuel and geothermal have huge potential but are under-utilized in most parts of the world. These have huge potentialities for sustainable environment and increasing the contribution of renewable energy.

Solar Energy

Solar Panels systems have an advantage over the conventional energy which is that it is capable of off-grid electricity generation in remote communities.

Biofuel

MicroAlgae along with many other microorganisms can be used to convert bio waste material into useful fuel. This comes with three advantages, it is cheap, and curbs the issues with environment pollution from bio-waste, and generates a useful product such as renewable fuel.

Chemical Engineers have a vast amount of opportunity is exploring the activity of millions of microorganisms and compare their growth rate and reaction rate to develop the most optimum bio technology to handle bio waste.

Geothermal

The earth is blessed with natural resources like aquifers which entrap enormous potential for harnessing geothermal energy. With the current technology it is possible to trace these aquifers and hence it is feasible to explore that area for geothermal resources. However, geothermal plants have some risks associated with them that include radioactivity, possibility of CO2 and H2S gases emissions and noise pollution. Further advancements in Research and Development and Technology along with a high investment capital investment are required for the utilization of geothermal energy. Nonetheless, geothermal energy is by-far the most sustainable renewable energy that exists in my opinion.

CO₂ Capture

The post combustion technologies for Carbon Capture have gained significance importance over the years due to its simplicity. However, its implementation has high costs associated with energy for example solvent technology. Membrane technologies for selective separation of carbon dioxide gas have gained significant advancements and have a promising future due to lower capital cost.

Chemical Engineers have opportunities to explore and study this field and invent optimum membranes that can achieve the goal of reducing the amount of carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere.