Informex has announced the three winners of the second annual Profiles in Sustainability awards: Zeon Corporation, Novomer and DSM. According to the judging panel, some of the most important factors in their success were the extent of the green impact and the distinctiveness of the technology. Fifteen companies submitted projects for consideration by the judging panel, which comprised representatives from the American Chemical Society's Green Chemistry Institute, SOCMA, Georgia Institute of Technology and the trade media. Entries were judged on the 12 principles of green chemistry, the commercial scale of the product/process, the uniqueness of the technology, and the magnitude of the product/process.
Zeon Corporation won the product category for their submission "A High Performance Ether Solvent, Cyclopentyl Methyl Ether (CPME)." Zeon manufactures CPME by the catalytic addition of MeOH to Cyclopentene, which is an atom economical reaction. The solvent, in use since 2005, offers extensive cost savings and waste reduction over classic Tetrahydrofuran (THF), most notably, 78% cost reduction and 80% waste reduction.
In the process category, Novomer won with their entry "Catalyst Technology Enables Usually Inert CO2 to React with Commodity Petrochemical Epoxides to Create a Family of Polymers that are up to 50% CO2 by Weight, with the CO2 Directly Incorporated into the Polymer Chain." This technology is 25 times more active and productive than other catalyst technologies of its kind and Novomer was able to advance the technology from lab scale to pilot scale. A $20.6 million grant from the Department of Energy is allowing Novomer to move forward with plans to scale up their technology to manufacturing scale in 2011.
DSM's submission, "Corporate Commitment to Sustainability as a Business Driver and Response to Pharmaceutical R&D and Manufacturing" won in the category "other." The submission covered route scouting services that lead to cost savings through identifying ways to streamline processes for clients.
