EPA Awards Green Chemistry Challenge Winners

By Richard E. Engler, Ph.D.

On June 12, 2017, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded the 2017 Green Chemistry Challenge Award winners at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. in conjunction with the 21st Annual Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference.  The award recognizes landmark green chemistry technologies developed by industrial pioneers and leading scientists that turn potential environmental issues into business opportunities, spurring innovation and economic development.  The American Chemical Society (ACS) Green Chemistry Institute convened an independent panel of technical experts to judge the 2017 submissions and make recommendations to EPA regarding the winners. 
 
This year's winners and technologies are:

• Merck & Co., Inc. in Greener Synthetic Pathways — Letermovir: A Case Study in State-of-the-Art Approaches to Sustainable Commercial Manufacturing Processes in the Pharmaceutical Industry;
• Amgen Inc. and Bachem in Greener Reaction Conditions — Green Process for Commercial Manufacture of Etelcalcetide Enabled by Improved Technology for Solid Phase Peptide Synthesis; 
• The Dow Chemical Company and Papierfabrik August Koehler SE in Designing Greener Chemicals — Breakthrough Sustainable Imaging Technology for Thermal Paper;
• UniEnergy Technologies LLC in Small Business — The UniSystem^TM: An Advanced Vanadium Redox Flow Battery for Grid-Scale Energy Storage; and
• Professor Eric J. Schelter of the University of Pennsylvania in Academic — Simple and Efficient Recycling of Rare Earth Elements from Consumer Materials Using Tailored Metal Complexes.

Over the course of the Green Chemistry Challenge’s 22 year history, EPA estimates that winning technologies are responsible for annually reducing the use or generation of more than 826 million pounds of hazardous chemicals, saving 21 billion gallons of water, and eliminating 7.8 billion pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent releases to air.  While we are saddened that this very successful voluntary program is slated to be defunded in the President's FY2018 budget, we applaud this year’s winners.  Those who value the green chemistry program should consider contacting their Senators and Representatives to encourage continued support of this program.  It has had outsized benefits for such a modestly funded program.