Undergraduate - UnitCHM3972 - Sustainable chemistry

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 2, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Science
Organisational Unit	School of Chemistry
Offered	Clayton Second semester 2015 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Professor Philip Chan

Synopsis

The development of chemical tools that allow realisation of the concept of a sustainable future - meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs - is the basis for the course of sustainable chemistry. This will be dealt with in three interconnected streams: Introduction to green chemistry, Sustainable technologies and Green energy technologies.

Outcomes

On completion of this unit students will be able to:

Discuss the historical and modern context of the birth and expansion of 'Green chemistry';
Explore the social and environmental responsibility of chemists in the global community;
Investigate the principles of green chemistry and green metrics such as atom economy and e-factors to recognise green chemistry criteria in the practice of chemistry;
Identify reagents, reactions and technologies that should be and realistically could be targeted for replacement by green alternatives;
Research examples of successful and recent sustainable chemistry technologies which enable environmental benefits through process changes and product substitution;
Debate the significance of energy in the global economy and associated energy related societal controversies;
Explore chemical processes involved in new technologies for the transport, storage and conversion of energy;
Construct strategies for improving energy efficiency and striving towards sustainability in energy consumption;
Practice technical skills for synthesising chemicals, interpreting chemical data, and collecting unique data using a range of sophisticated apparatus and technologies;
Develop methods and skills for communicating sustainable chemistry to a broad audience.

Assessment

Continuous/laboratory assessment: 30%
Group assessment: 10%
Final examination: 60%

Workload requirements

Three 1-hour lectures per week for 12 weeks and one 4-hour laboratory class every week for 10 weeks

Chief examiner(s)

Professor Patrick Perlmutter

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

Chemistry

Prerequisites

CHM2911 or CHM2735. Student with other units in Engineering such as CHE2162 should consult the unit co-ordinator.