Green Polymerization Methods. Renewable Starting Materials, Catalysis and Waste Reduction

At the start of the 1950s, Ziegler and Natta discovered that simple metallorganic catalysts are capable of transforming olefins into linear polymers with highly ordered structures. This pioneering discovery was recognized with a Nobel Prize in 1963. In the 80s and 90s, the development of molecular defined metallocenes led to a renaissance for non-polar polyolefin materials. Designer catalysts allowed a greater precision in defining properties of the material. The past 10 years have seen the discovery of new catalysts based on late transition metals, which allow the combination of polar monomers with non-polar olefins and thus lead to innovative materials. Here, the world's leading authors from industry and academia describe the latest developments in this fascinating field for the first time in such comprehensive detail. In so doing, they introduce readers systematically to the basic principles and show how these new catalysts can effectively be used for polymerization reactions. This makes the book an ideal and indispensable reference for specialists, advanced students, and scientists of various disciplines dealing with research into catalysts and materials science.

This first book to focus on catalytic processes from the viewpoint of green chemistry presents every important aspect: ? Numerous catalytic reductions and oxidations methods ? Solid-acid and solid-base catalysis ? C-C bond formation reactions ? Biocatalysis ? Asymmetric catalysis ? Novel reaction media like e.g. ionic liquids, supercritical CO2 ? Renewable raw materials Written by Roger A. Sheldon – without doubt one of the leaders in the field with much experience in academia and industry – and his co-workers, the result is a unified whole, an indispensable source for every scientist looking to improve catalytic reactions, whether in the college or company lab.

This useful, one-stop resource for understanding the most important issues in materials challenges in alternative and renewable energy. The logically organized and carefully selected articles give insight into materials challenges in alternative renewable energy and incorporate the latest developments related to materials challenges in alternative renewable energy, including hydrogen, batteries and energy storage materials, hydropower, and biomass.

As naturally occurring and abundant sources of non-fossil carbon, lignin and lignans offer exciting possibilities as a source of commercially valuable products, moving away from petrochemical-based feedstocks in favour of renewable raw materials. Lignin can be used directly in fields such as agriculture, livestock, soil rehabilitation, bioremediation and the polymer industry, or it can be chemically modified for the fabrication of specialty and high-value chemicals such as resins, adhesives, fuels and greases. Lignin and Lignans as Renewable Raw Materials presents a multidisciplinary overview of the state-of-the-art and future prospects of lignin and lignans. The book discusses the origin, structure, function and applications of both types of compounds, describing the main resources and values of these products as carbon raw materials. Topics covered include: • Structure and physicochemical properties • Lignin detection methods • Biosynthesis of lignin • Isolation methods • Characterization and modification of lignins • Applications of modified and unmodified lignins • Lignans: structure, chemical and biological properties • Future perspectives This book is a comprehensive resource for researchers, scientists and engineers in academia and industry working on new possibilities for the application of renewable raw materials. For more information on the Wiley Series in Renewable Resources, visit www.wiley.com/go/rrs

One of the main challenges facing the chemical industry is the transition to sustainable operations. Industries are taking initiatives to reduce resource intensities or footprints, and by adopting safer materials and processes. Such efforts need to be supported by techniques that can quantify the broad economic and environmental implications of industrial operations, retrofi t options and provide new design alternatives. This contemporary overview focuses on cradle-to-grave life cycle assessments of existing or conceptual processes for producing valueadded fuels, chemicals, and/or materials from renewable agricultural residues, plant-derived starches and oils, lignocellulosic biomass, and plant-based industrial processing wastes. It presents the key concepts, systems, and technologies, with an emphasis on new feedstocks for the chemical industry. Each chapter uses common themes of specifi c raw materials, thus forming a natural progression throughout the book. The result is coverage from a wide range of perspectives, emphasizing not only the technical issues but also considering the market place and socio-economic aspects.

Written as a practical introduction to biogas plant design and operation, this book fills a huge gap by presenting a systematic guide to this emerging technology – information otherwise only available in poorly intelligible reports by US governmental and other official agencies. The author draws on teaching material from a university course as well as a wide variety of industrial biogas projects he has been involved with, thus combining didactical skill with real-life examples. Alongside biological and technical aspects of biogas generation, this timely work also looks at safety and legal aspects as well as environmental considerations.

This is the first book to describe the synthesis and characterization of the materials used in polymer-supported synthesis. The authors cover not only the classical polymers and their use in homogeneous, heterogeneous and micellar catalysis, but also such new developments as «enzyme-labile linkers», illustrating how to simplify the purification process and avoid waste. The result is a wealth of useful information – for beginners and experts alike – in one handy reference, removing the need for difficult and time-consuming research among the literature.

With its comprehensive overview of modern reduction methods, this book features high quality contributions allowing readers to find reliable solutions quickly and easily. The monograph treats the reduction of carbonyles, alkenes, imines and alkynes, as well as reductive aminations and cross and heck couplings, before finishing off with sections on kinetic resolutions and hydrogenolysis. An indispensable lab companion for every chemist.

The overall efficiency, effectiveness, and practicality of potential future energy sources and systems are directly related to many materials-related factors. This volume features 30 papers presented during the 2012 Materials Challenges in Alternative and Renewable Energy Conference. They cover the latest developments involving materials for alternative and renewable energy sources and systems, including batteries and energy storage, hydrogen, solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, and nuclear, as well as materials availability, the energy grid, and nanocomposites.

Reliability is one of the most important attributes for the products and processes of any company or organization. This important work provides a powerful framework of domain-independent reliability improvement and risk reducing methods which can greatly lower risk in any area of human activity. It reviews existing methods for risk reduction that can be classified as domain-independent and introduces the following new domain-independent reliability improvement and risk reduction methods: Separation Stochastic separation Introducing deliberate weaknesses Segmentation Self-reinforcement Inversion Reducing the rate of accumulation of damage Permutation Substitution Limiting the space and time exposure Comparative reliability models The domain-independent methods for reliability improvement and risk reduction do not depend on the availability of past failure data, domain-specific expertise or knowledge of the failure mechanisms underlying the failure modes. Through numerous examples and case studies, this invaluable guide shows that many of the new domain-independent methods improve reliability at no extra cost or at a low cost. Using the proven methods in this book, any company and organisation can greatly enhance the reliability of its products and operations.