Incorporating Green Chemistry in Green Design for Laboratories June 6, 2007 Ralph Wrons, P.E. Pollution Prevention program coordinator Sandia National Laboratories Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company, for the United States Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.

Background Prompt for this presentation Green Chemistry introduction Environmental Performance Criteria of the Laboratories for the 21 st Century program Measures taken at Sandia’s CINT laboratory Savings opportunities

Sandia National Laboratories Multi-program Security Laboratory –NM & CA Sites, about 7M GSF –Non-proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons –Critical energy infrastructures –Homeland security Collaborates with industry, universities & other government agencies to commercialize new technologies

Why the interest in Green Chemistry? Green design criteria and LEED certification requirements in the design contract for recent Sandia new build Labs Coincidentally, NEPA estimates for each of the projects: –estimated 40% increase hazardous waste over first 5 years of operation –1200kg/year of hazardous waste (10% increase) Green Chemistry has potential to positively impact 4 of top 7 EMS significant aspects

Background Research into green chemistry methods ongoing at National Science Foundation, EPA and the Green Chemistry Institute U.S. chemical industry is single largest consumer of natural gas Savings potential: –Chemical purchases, chemical waste, 1 st cost on handling systems, energy, water –Make the lab inherently safer

EPA’s Green Chemistry challenge To promote innovative chemical technologies that reduce or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances in the design, manufacture, and use of chemical products.

Green Chemistry breakthrough? Estimated 40% of laboratory waste is unused chemicals and disposal costs nearly 6 times the purchase price of chemicals Federal government laboratories have large purchase power and can lead the way to apply green chemistry methods Green Chemistry Presidential Challenge awards since 1996 Green Chemistry initiatives are gathering momentum

Green Design Approach Add appropriate green design criteria in project documents (DC, RFP). Conduct a Green Design Charrette, using USGBC LEED and the Labs21 Environmental Performance Criteria (EPC) as ideas and evaluation tools. Introduce Green Chemistry considerations at the design phase.

Laboratories for 21 st Century Joint EPA/DOE program Promote the design, construction, and operation of high-performance laboratories that will:  Minimize overall environmental impacts  Protect occupant safety  Optimize whole building efficiency on a life-cycle basis Developed EPC (Environmental Performance Criteria) to augment existing LEED criteria specifically for laboratories USGBC considering AGL (Advanced Guide for Laboratories) as another LEED program

Center for Integrated Nano- Technologies (CINT) Multi-function laboratory designed to foster interaction between Sandia, University and private sector scientists. Laboratory types include: –Biological –Clean Rooms –Vibration Analysis –Chemistry

CINT Laboratory

Summary of CINT LEED CATEGORYSCORECOMMENTS Sites8 Credits 1, 4.2, 4.4, 5.2, 6.1, 7.1, 7.2, 8 Water3 Credits 1.1, 3.1, 3.2 Energy4 Credits 3, 4, 5 + energy reduction credit (30% ) Materials6 Credits 2.1, 2.2, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2 IEQ10 Credits 1, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4 Innovation2 Use of Labs21, & educational aspects TOTAL33

EPC prerequisites & credits

EPC Energy prerequisites & credits

EPC Materials & Resources (1 prerequisite; 1 credit; 1 point) CreditRequirementStatus Pre2 Develop a system to maintain current information about hazardous material types, quantity, location, and disposal/use histories, and deliver information to a central location. CIS for materials; WIMS for waste 8 ? Develop an action plan to eliminate, minimize, substitute, recycle, and dispose of harmful chemicals safely. Plan should improve distribution, and limit quantities, storage and waste. P2 will work with user (via PPOA) to develop action plan.

Chemical Resource Management – AGL Credit 8 Strategies Develop material handling and processing guidelines as a part of initial design Monitor implementation as part of commissioning Dedicate centralized areas for receiving, return, or safe disposal of hazardous chemicals Dedicate space in lab for same Develop “just-in-time” inventory system to minimize proliferation of hazardous substances Use alternative laboratory methods, e.g., “green chemistry”, to reduce consumption of hazardous substances Maximize sample throughput while minimizing sample size by using automated laboratory equipment

CINT Chemical Stock rooms Flammables Oxidizers Corrosives

Strategies Slight alterations in stoichiometry of experiments can reap big savings in waste and disposal costs Sandia example: Scientist applied green chemistry principles in responding to a customer’s request to scale up a process 50-fold to make larger batches –By changing the original chemistry reactant concentrations, the product was achieved successfully with a 97% reduction in hazardous waste (3304 kg  88 kg) and a savings of over $90,000 in liquid waste disposal fees

Strategies Rinsing and cleaning are major sources of lab waste Look for ways to reduce number of rinses, bath size and hazardous solvents. Examples at SNL/NM: - Reusing acetone bath: $14,000 annual savings - Replacing toluene and hexane with non- hazardous Brulin for cleaning – $9,000 annual savings

Kanban–“Just-in-time” Kanban is a lean manufacturing term for inventory control This method utilized at Sandia uses taped- off and labeled storage areas for each item and cards for re-order It is a simple system to allow the user to easily see when new chemicals need to be ordered and when there is an excess

Example of Kanban Chemical Storage

Strategies According to Julie Haack of University of Oregon: –Green chemistry methods allow more work to be done at a bench rather than in a fume hood –5-fold decrease in costs compared to conventional chemistry processes

Resources Labs 21 Toolkit Specifically the Environmental Performance Criteria EPA Green Chemistry – 12 principles ACS Green Chemistry Laboratory Design, April

Questions? Acknowledgements: Kristin Klossner and Steve Lockwood You may contact me at