Green manufacturing leading to economic and ecological gains

Chemicals industry is under increased pressure across the supply chain with a traditional reliance on non-renewable resources (that are becoming increasingly scarce and have uncertainties over continuity of supply); old processes (most chemical processes are based on chemistry that is 50+ years old) that are often overly hazardous and very wasteful; and products that have not been fully assessed for human and environmental impact. Against this background, green chemistry provides a sustainable solutions to future chemical manufacturing, according to Prof James Clark, Director, The Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence for Industry, University of York, UK.
 
Need for a changeover
The chemical industry has a bad boy image which needs to be addressed. And, hence, adopting green manufacturing practices is imperative. “It is not only cleaner, better, cheaper (more profit) but also necessary to adopt green chemistry for sustainability in the long term of the product and the business, and finally it is the right thing to do as a Responsible Care company and also makes you feel good,” said Ravi Kapoor, Managing Director, Heubach Colour Pvt Ltd.
 
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In India, pharmaceutical industry was the first to acknowledge the importance of green chemistry to reduce environmental damages and adopt eco-friendly processes to make drugs and its intermediates. For example, the Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy’s Labs, one of India’s leading research-based pharmaceutical companies, claims to be the first generic pharmaceutical company to become a member of the Green Chemistry Institute (GCI) of American Chemical Society (ACS), which aims to catalyse and enable the implementation of green chemistry and engineering throughout the global chemical enterprise.
 
Fundamentally, green chemistry does not belong to a separate branch of chemistry; rather, it reflects a change in the basic philosophy and the way chemistry is approached and executed to achieve environmental and economic prosperity, according to Rakeshwar Bandichhor, Senior Prinicpal Scientist at Dr. Reddy’s Labs and an expert in green chemistry. He believes that effective communication of green chemistry and educating the next generation of scientists is an integral means to that end.
 
“Considering the process conditions and economics, ever-increasing environmental controls to incorporate green chemistry principles into the synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and intermediates, Dr. Reddy’s is geared up to intensify the efforts to make the processes green. In house incorporation of green principles into synthetic route design helped us to bring synergy among environment, chemistry and economy,” added Bandichhor.
 
Benefits to generic manufacturers
Green chemistry is fundamentally based on the very first principle involving pollution prevention or promotion of innovative science and technology that reduce or eliminate the use of hazardous substances by design rather than pollution management. “Green philosophy towards environmental sustainability is to primarily focus on ‘at source reduction’ rather than ‘end of the pipe’ treatment,” said Bandichhor.
 
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The genericisation of a medicines invariably lead to a concomitant increase in the production level ultimately resulting in a acute environmental burden all over the globe. Because the medicines are off patented, the innovator companies have little incentive in modifying the chemistry and the generic companies produce the drugs largely by following the existing means with minimal change.
 
Bandichhor elaborated, “In recent past, the rapid development of green chemistry is due to the realisation that green processes will always be economical especially in the long term. Those who believe in these are geared towards ambitious environmental goals of innovation, efficiency and integrated business flow. One has to realise, early on, that the green chemistry offers tangible distinctive advantages which are attainable via product optimisation, energy conservation, lean manufacturing, operational excellence, good science and most importantly sustainability.”
 
According to him, green chemistry and engineering allows developing processes with least Process Mass Intensity (PMI), which indicates maximum output at the cost of minimum input. In general, lowest PMI signifies lowest cost for particular synthetic route. It also helps to develop scalable and safe processes. “There are number of factors in the production of pharmaceuticals that incur cost. Green chemistry not only helps in reducing the cost but it also takes care of environment in a sustainable manner. Green chemistry and engineering fundamentally helps us to develop affordable medicines that allow leading healthy life,” opined Bandichhor.  
 
More than monetary benefits
Realising the growing importance of reducing carbon footprint and minimising wastes, even fine and specialty chemical manufacturers are harnessing the benefits of green chemistry. Take the example of PI Industries Ltd, a manufacturer of agri-input and custom synthesis & manufacturing company, which is working on energy-efficient processes that use safe and less-toxic raw materials, and generate minimum or no waste.
 
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“With a guiding philosophy of 3R’s - reduce, recycle & reuse, PI Industries has always been on the forefront in building and implementing environment-friendly and sustainable processes. From synthesising greener process routes at the R&D laboratory to using low-carbon materials at the manufacturing plants, PI has always facilitated sustainable growth,” commented Rajnish Sarna, Executive Director, PI Industries Ltd.
 
In fact, PI has established a strong framework in place to carryout innovation in all the areas of operations – from R&D to manufacturing. As a result of these efforts, PI claims that it has consequently seen an improvement in the yield, reduction in raw material consumption, improvement in solvent recovery and reduction of waste generation. “This was achieved through seamless collaboration among R&D, process development, technology absorption, supply chain and operations teams,” said Sarna.
 
In simple terms, usage of less quantity of raw material to achieve the same amount of output, usage of less energy and handling & disposal of less waste results in achieving better product economics through the use of green chemistry. “By improving the overall resource efficiency, green chemistry provides financial benefits from lower material usage, energy and capital expenditure costs in addition to environmental benefits,” opined Sarna.