Lifecycle Assessment/Analysis (LCA)

As global sustainability challenges become more complex and interconnected, the engagement of scientists, and specifically early-career chemists in policymaking, is gaining urgency. This perspective highlights the current status of science policy engagement in chemistry across all continents. It identifies key institutional models, regional disparities and opportunities for action. Using examples from Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania, we explore how chemists are engaging and shaping the science policy interface.

Zero-valent iron nanoparticles (nZVI) are highly effective in removing numerous contaminants from water, as they combine the reducing action of metallic iron with adsorption and coprecipitation mechanisms. The traditional synthesis method for nZVI involves the reduction of Fe(II) and Fe(III) salts with sodium borohydride. Given the need to optimize the synthesis protocol for scalability, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) emerges as a useful tool with the potential to identify critical stages, enabling the minimization of environmental impacts from both production and remediation processes.

The biological process of succinic acid (SA) production can simultaneously reduce the dependency on fossil-based resources and sequester CO2 to synthesize value-added products. In the present study, an acid-tolerant engineered strain was employed to minimize waste (e.g., gypsum) generation in downstream processing and contamination risks. The cost of the fermentation medium is a crucial factor for the industrial production of SA. Corn steep liquor (CSL) was utilized to formulate a low-cost medium for synthesizing SA.