EPA Names Pollution Prevent. Award Winners

The EPA (www.epa.gov) announced the 2007 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards, a program designed to promote research to develop less-toxic alternatives to existing technologies and to reduce or eliminate waste generation in industrial production.

The awards winners are: Professor Michael Krische of the University of Texas at Austin; NovaSterilis Inc. of Lansing, N.Y.; a partnership between Professor Kaichang Li of Oregon State University, Columbia Forest Products of Portland, Ore., and Hercules Inc. of Wilmington, Del.; Headwaters Technology Innovation of Lawrenceville, N.J.; and Cargill Inc. of Wayzata, Minn.

An independent panel of technical experts convened by the American Chemical Society (www.chemistry.org) selected the winners from nearly 100 nominations for this recognition. The awards were given in five categories: Academic, Small Business, Greener Synthetic Pathways, Greener Reaction Conditions, and Designing Greener Chemicals. Over the past 12 years, the winners” work has led to the elimination of over 940 million pounds of hazardous chemicals and solvents, over 600 million gallons of water, and over 340 million pounds of carbon dioxide, according to the EPA.

For more info on the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge 2007 Awards, visit www.epa.gov/greenchemistry/pubs/pgcc/past.html.