Pioneering green chemistry

Green Chemistry is a branch of chemistry that focuses on designing products and processes that minimise or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances. In essence, it aims to reduce the environmental and health impacts of chemical production and use.

It’s about working at the molecular level to achieve sustainability and is a powerful tool for harnessing chemical innovation to meet environmental and economic goals at the same time.

At Christeyns, we activate this concept throughout our value chain to optimise the use of resources and reduce the environmental impact of our operations and those of our customers.

The guiding principles of Green Chemistry

  • Prevent waste: Designing processes to minimise the production of waste, the idea being that it is better to prevent waste from being produced than to clean it up afterwards. Any material with no perceived value or the loss of unused energy can be considered waste.
  • Maximising atom economy: Ensuring that the final product contains the maximum amount of the starting materials. The focus of this concept is on maximising the use of raw materials so that the final product contains the maximum number of atoms from the reactants.
  • Designing Safer Chemicals: Creating products that are effective but have minimal hazards for health and environment. This requires a deep understanding of the properties of a molecule and its impact on the environment.
  • Using safer solvents and reaction conditions: Solvents are an important area of green chemistry research because they often account for the majority of mass wasted in syntheses and processes. Many conventional solvents are hazardous, flammable and/or corrosive, so avoiding the use of harmful solvents and conditions is crucial.
  • Improving energy efficiency: Performing reactions at ambient temperature and pressure whenever possible to reduce energy consumption. After all, the most sustainable form of energy is the energy that we save by not having to use it in the first place.
  • Using renewable raw materials: Prefer raw materials that are renewable rather than depletable. The depletion of petroleum feedstocks and natural gas has made the use of renewable feedstocks more urgent.
  • Reducing derivatives: Avoiding unnecessary steps that modify the chemical structure of a substance. Rather than using strong chemical bonds, gentler methods based on interactions between molecules are preferred.
  • Catalysis: It consists of using small amounts of special substances (catalysts) to speed up chemical reactions and make them more efficient, which helps to reduce waste.
  • Designing for degradation: Ensuring that products break down into harmless substances after use to avoid persistence in the environment.
  • Real-time analytics for pollution prevention: Monitoring and controlling processes to prevent pollution. Green analytical chemistry aims to measure chemicals without generating waste.
  • Accident prevention through inherently safe chemistry: Designing chemicals and processes to minimise the risk of accidents in the working environment.

How we, at Christeyns, put Green Chemistry into practice?

As a company specialising in hygiene chemicals, Christeyns has integrated green chemistry principles into its operations to create innovative products and promote sustainability.

Here are some of the ways we incorporate Green Chemistry into our business:

  1. Cool Chemistry: We have developed the Cool Chemistry concept, which enables effective washing at lower temperatures. This innovation significantly reduces energy and water consumption.
  2. On-site production: We use Cool Box technology to produce bleach and disinfectants directly at the customer site. This reduces the need for transport, cuts carbon emissions and ensures highly efficient formulations.
  3. Eco-labelled products: Our portfolio is being developed and expanded to include eco-labelled product ranges that have been Eco-Label certified. These products emphasise our environmental commitment.
  4. Sustainable raw materials: Our company carefully selects raw materials from suppliers that meet a number of sustainability criteria. We regularly evaluate and update our formulations to replace harmful substances with more responsible alternatives.
  5. Efficient dosing systems: We have developed advanced dosing systems to ensure accurate and efficient use of chemicals in our customers’ operations, reducing waste and environmental impact.

By embracing these principles and implementing these practices in our daily operations, we are making a strong commitment to green chemistry and sustainability and are actively contributing to reducing the environmental footprint of our operations, our customers’ operations and our products.

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