Process intensification in green synthesis

Abstract

In the past few decades there has been an extensive increase in the research for green synthesis processes due to environmental concerns, industrial safety and sustainable development, which makes it an attractive alternative to the conventional synthesis processes. The interest of researchers in the green synthesis processes highlights the importance of understanding the mechanism and the fundamental differences between the different processes. The number of publications in the field of "Green Synthesis" in journals, proceedings, patents, etc. has increased by almost 20 times from 2001 to 2010. The published reports are mainly concerned with green synthesis with catalytic processes, less harmful solvents and process intensified techniques. In the present article, the technological development efforts in the area of green synthesis are summarized. Various techniques for green synthesis process intensification are discussed, e.g., mixers, microreactors, spin disc reactor, oscillated flow reactors, microwave irradiation, ultrasonication, multifunctional membranes and coiled flow inverter. The applications of green synthesis processes for biofuel, nanoparticle, ionic liquids and pharmaceutical production are also discussed.