Managing the Chaos of Chemical Lists

PFAS are highly functional chemistries that have been used in consumer products such as textiles and leather for clothing and footwear, in non-stick cookware and in paints and construction materials.

Calibration is relevant to everyone. Even the most precise measurement instrument is of little or no use if you cannot guarantee that the reading is accurate, or you are unaware of the measurement uncertainty. The US GMP rule for pharmaceutical manufacturing, 21 CFR Part 211, article 68(a) provides details on calibration of measuring equipment. Similar statements can be found in other regulatory or guidance documents, such as ISO9001, which emphazises the traceability to international or national measurement standards. The challenge is to determine how to put these regulations into practice—to be confident that you comply with the requirements without an excessive amount of effort—but without compromising product quality.

Carbon dioxide utilization (CO2U) has gained momentum as a solution to achieve the world's climate goals. This set of technologies creates financial incentives to capture waste CO2 and can accelerate the uptake of carbon capture, storage, and utilization (CCUS).

The new product-oriented chemical industry has three categories of products with different key characteristics. The first and most obvious category is commodities, the same products that used to dominate the chemical enterprise. The key for producing these products is their cost. The second and third categories of products may be less familiar. The second category involves molecules with molecular weights of 500 to 700 and with specific social benefits. The most obvious examples are pharmaceuticals. The key to their production is their time to market, i.e., the speed of their discovery and production. The third category includes products where the value is added by a specific microstructure. The key to these products is their function. For example, I don’t care why my shoes shine after I have applied polish; I only care that they do shine. Customers pay a premium for such a function.