Cherry, Steven. “Fixing the Chemical Industry’s Sustainability Problem.” IEEE Spectrum: Technology, Engineering, and Science News, IEEE, 21 June 2021, 17:00 GMT, spectrum.ieee.org/podcast/artificial-intelligence/machine-learning/fixing-the-chemical-industrys-sustainability-problem.
Article title:
Fixing the Chemical Industry’s Sustainability Problem
A startup, led by a 25-year-old chemical engineer, is leading the way
Photo: Sunthetics
My summary of the article:
This article was a conversation between Steven Cherry, from the IEEE Podcast series, and Myriam Sbeiti, CEO and co-founder of Sunthetics – a startup that is focused on innovating the industrial and chemical processes by which synthetic materials like nylon are made. The company, currently, is focused on reinventing the synthesis of nylon, a widely used substance used in many applications from clothes to automotive body parts. Sbeiti identifies many problems with the current process of nylon synthesis: firstly, it requires a lot of energy for molecules to come together in the particular way that nylon is arranged in, and secondly, toxic substances are generated as a byproduct of the chemical reaction that synthesizes nylon. Sunthetics solves this problem by utilizing electricity rather than high temperature to create an environment eligible for the chemical reaction to generate nylon. Basically, they found out that sending electrons through the environment can generate the same effect as high temperature and pressure, which was and is the conventional method of generating nylon.
The benefits of this was that it eliminated the necessity to use toxic substances such as hydrogen cyanide to create a hot and high pressure environment. Still, however, this method had some limitations. In fact, this method was discovered by Monsanto in 1950, but was not commercialized in the production of nylon due to such limitations, those being the fact that it was not nearly as cost-efficient as that involving hydrogen cyanide to generate high temperature and pressure. Sunthetics realized that this barrier of lacking cost-efficiency must be resolved to convince nylon-producing companies to follow the electricity method rather than the hydrogen cyanide method. And thus, this is what Sunthetics is working on at the moment.
Sunthetics also focuses on other technological ways to bring about a positive change in the world, i.e., to make the world "greener". For example, they are looking at ways of utilizing artificial intelligence to help the pharmaceutical industry that is in constant demand for new chemicals and molecular structures to make the processes of synthesizing new medicine quicker and more efficient. Moreover, they are also looking at ways to make sustainable energy, such as wind and solar energy, more accessible such that it becomes an attractive choice, possible something more attractive than fossil fuel to industries and companies around the world.
My response to the article:
First and for most, just by reading the conversation between the two, I have developed a profound respect towards Sbeiti and her startup Sunthetics. Of of the most important reasons why I have developed this respect is not only because she 'cares' about the environment. There are, especially more so nowadays, dozens of people who 'care' about the environment (or at least say they do) by 'demanding' companies to cut down on their use of fossil fuels, polluting substances, etc. Although I do believe that, for example, using fossil fuels is detrimental to the environment, I also realize the fact that it is simply illogical and irresponsible for people to simply demand these companies to 'cut down' on their use of such substances. These companies, composed of men and women who each have their own families to feed, must inevitably put private profit as a priority, and environmental concern before it, since their children and parents may depend on their success as an employee of that company.
From what I can read from the article, I firmly believe Sbeiti shares my viewpoint that it is illogical and just effect-less to demand companies to prioritize global citizenship and environmental concern before private profits. Thus is why Sbeiti and her startup works relentlessly to make the environmentally benign option not only the "greener" option, but also the more cost-efficient option. It is evident that she perfectly understands that companies just would not – and in fact cannot – follow demands that are less cost-effective. It is simply against what a company is: "a commercial business".
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