Environmental impacts future research

Within this overall scenario, it is evident that future developments in electrochemistry have the potential to make a major impact on society in the 21st century in terms of energy production and use, public and private transport and environmental impact. As research scientists, it is not our role to decide, or even to predict, what society will choose to do in the future. Rather, our role is to identify technical opportunities and to develop engineered options from which society may select the preferred choice when the timing is correct and in the light of prevailing political, economic and other factors. In this context, electrochemists face the... 

The factors are discussed which lead to the formation of environmental regulations in the United States, following the growing realisation over the last 150 years of the environmental impact of the new chemicals which were being developed. Initiatives for new regulations often come from the public, and their concerns at the time, particularly in relation to pollution prevention, air quality, and the protection of children s health. Current environmental regulations are discussed along with their impact on industrial research and development. Future trends are forecast to be related to air quality, children s health, and pollution prevention. 11 refs. 

Pollutants emitted by various sources entered an air parcel moving with the wind in the model proposed by Eschenroeder and Martinez. Finite-difference solutions to the species-mass-balance equations described the pollutant chemical kinetics and the upward spread through a series of vertical cells. The initial chemical mechanism consisted of 7 species participating in 13 reactions based on sm< -chamber observations. Atmospheric dispersion data from the literature were introduced to provide vertical-diffusion coefficients. Initial validity tests were conducted for a static air mass over central Los Angeles on October 23, 1968, and during an episode late in 1%8 while a special mobile laboratory was set up by Scott Research Laboratories. Curves were plotted to illustrate sensitivity to rate and emission values, and the feasibility of this prediction technique was demonstrated. Some problems of the future were ultimately identified by this work, and the method developed has been applied to several environmental impact studies (see, for example, Wayne et al. ). 

Many applications, especially in electrochemistry, rely on the use of expensive and rare metals, like Pt, Li, and rare-earth elements. In the synthesis of micro- and me-soporous materials, costly structure-directing agents are sometimes applied. The reduction of catalyst mass and the prevention of waste formation, for instance by recycling of synthesis additives, are therefore highly topical research issues. The practicability of future technologies based on catalysis will depend on the availability of efficient catalysts composed of abundant elements prepared by robust, preferentially aqueous-based synthesis methods and the reduction of environmental impacts arising from catalyst manufacture. 

FUTURE SR DEVELOPMENTS AND THEIR POTENTIAL IMPACT ON RESEARCH IN LOW TEMPERATURE GEOCHEMISTRY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE... 

This chapter provides information about major enzymes used either in commercial textile processes or in current advanced research to improve the performance of textile materials. The use of enzymes in textiles has also been applied to textile surface design to achieve unique surface patterning. The environmental impact of the use of enzymes in the textile processing in comparison to conventional processing has been discussed. There is a bright future for enzyme-based biotechnology to be implemented in the textile industry and to make a contribution to textile sustainabihty. 

After the success of the Li-Ion battery, the research for cathode-active materials has been concentrating on Uthinm-containing first-row transition-metals oxide with 4 V-class high electromotive force, because it can serve as a Uthium source to a carbon-negative electrode. Unfortunately, all 4 V-cIass rechargeable cathodes, LiCoO, LiNiOj, and LiMn O, have the essential problans of cost and environmental impact, because these cathodes commonly include rare metals as redox center. As shown in Table 9.1, these problems become serious especially for LiCoO along with the further rapid growth of the market for electric vehicles expected in the near future. 

Life cycle assessment can be used to determine the environmental impacts of producing the biobased PET. The LCA will consider the energy and GHG generation for producing biobased PET from the raw materials to the plastic pellet. The cradle-to-factory gate approach can be useful for plastic packaging, bags, and other products. Currently, 30% of the PET can be made from biobased sources. Future research can increase the development of a 100% biobased terephthalic acid and 100% PET. Very few LCA studies have been conducted on biobased PET but it is an active area of research. 

Concern over the negative environmental impact of accumulating nondegradable plastic films and containers has been increasing. Replacement of these petroleum-based plastics with biodegradable plastics maybe inevitable within the next 50 years. Lactic acid based bioplastics will play an important role in future potential products (see section O Areas of Research and Development in this chapter). 

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