Green Chemistry and Technology

Life Cycle Assessment and Environmental Sustainability

Life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) signifies to the evaluation of all environmental, social and economic negative effects and benefits in decision-making processes towards more sustainable products throughout their life cycle. LCSA helps to the   decision-makers in prioritizing resources and investing them where there are more chances of positive impacts and less chance of negative ones. The method of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been developed one of the major tools for the analysis of anthropogenic environmental impacts.  It considers the whole life cycle of a product or procedure and assesses environmental impacts in terms of various environmental impact categories that go beyond the consideration of mass or energy flows. Recent case studies derived from emerging research areas such as active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing, nanotechnology, flow chemistry, process strengthening by severe synthesis conditions, process integration, and waste treatment, the use of other energy sources or solvents as well as chemistry based on renewable resources are presented, emphasising the usefulness and importance of LCA in today's green chemical design.