Greenness Scoring Methods for Solvents

Along with methods to evaluate different pharmaceutical processes and unit operations, several methods have also been developed to evaluate commonly used solvents in the pharmaceutical industry. Solvents still account for a majority of the mass utilization in any pharmaceutical process. Therefore, various methods have been developed which focus on measuring the greenness of solvents, locating possible alternatives and reducing the overall amount of solvent used in any given process. Some of these methods use a combination of physical property data, LCA 

solvent selection and scoring tools specifically focus on solvent use. As solvents account for the majority of the mass utilization in a process, solvent selection, together with reductions in the number and amount of solvents used, can lead to greener, safer, and more efficient processes. GSK and Rowan University have also developed two further methods which specifically aim at scoring solvents, and these are described in more detail in the following sections. 

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