Have a green chemistry question?

[jly98]

Do you have a green chemistry question? A question about research? About teaching?  About a conference? Use this Green Chemistry Group as a forum for asking and answering questions across the ACS Network.

[rschlosberg]

Is there a serious stress corrosion cracking issue with ethanol fuel?

[jly98]

This is outside my area of expertise.  Does anyone know the answer, or know of an expert on this topic?

[reengler]

I asked our chemical engineers.  This is what I got back:

"Yes, I believe there is a serious stress corrosion factor associated with the transport of ethanol through pipelines and in storage tanks at terminal facilities. For this reason, ethanol is often transported by truck and distribution is limited to areas within driving distance of the ethanol production facilities. More recently, stress corrosion cracking has been documented in storage tanks. The cracking has been linked to the presence of dissolved oxygen in the ethanol."

I didn't get any references, but you can probably find some documentation to support the position in the open literature.

[naveed1971]

Looking for information and resources regarding the biotechnology using Enzymes to convert Penicillin G (K), first to 6-amino penicillinic acid and then finally to tri-hydrates of Ampicillin & Amoxicillin. Antibiotics.

[dterry84]

I am a undergrad student going for my BS in Chemistry, im thinking of focusing my efforts in Green Chemistry, reason being is that im the kind of person who cares for the environment and want to do my part to preserve the world we have today. What are some things that Green Chemistry is doing today to help heal the environment?

[flin]

Green chemistry is a broad area, currently I am doing catalysis in chemistry.

[raynie]

There's something interesting about your question...what is green chemistry doing to heal the environment? Healing is different from prevention. Most green chemistry efforts are aimed at prevention...looking at new reactions or processes that minimize waste, use less energy, etc. Very few efforts are truly aimed at healing the environment. If it is healing that you want, you'll want to look at topics like remediation or carbon sequestration. On the other hand, the earth is very much like a self-healing organism...When the prevention efforts come to fruition so that we're not putting out as much waste (infection), the earth should be able to heal itself (to some extent).

Doug Raynie

Research Associate Professor

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Shepard Hall 121 Box 2202

South Dakota State University

Brookings, SD 57007

(phone) 605-688-4549

(fax) 605-688-6364

(e-mail) douglas.raynie@sdstate.edu

[dterry84]

Catalysis in Chemistry sounds very interesting. What interested you in going down that road? And what kind of experiments have you conducted....if you dont mind me asking.

[ebrush]

Good for you!  Green chemistry is a dynamic area of chemistry that aims to change the way we currently "do" chemistry starting at the design phase of a process, thereby preventing pollution at the source.  The recent American Chemical Society national meeting in San Francisco had a focus on sustainability, and included numerous talks and symposia on green chemistry.  To learn more about green chemistry and the latest new "technologies", try out the foloowing sites:

Recent ACS meeting (you can check out titles and abstracts of papers and posters from the technical program here): http://abstracts.acs.org/chem/239nm/program/disciplineindex.php

ACS Green Chemistry Institute (lots of info on green chemistry): http://acs.org/greenchemistry

EPA Presidential Green Chemistry Awards (the top green chemistry technologies since 1996): http://www.epa.gov/greenchemistry/pubs/pgcc/past.html

I hope this helps, and let us know if you need more info.

Ed Brush

Bridgewater State College