Green Chemistry

The primary goal of this course is to make students aware of how chemical processes can be designed, developed and run in a sustainable way.
Students acquire the competence to think of chemistry as a sustainable activity.

Students should have passed the 1st-year course »Chemistry«.

• The 12 principles of green chemistry
• Waste prevention and treatment
• Green chemistry metrics
• Process safety
• Safer solvents and auxiliaries
• Alternative energy sources in chemistry
• Catalysis
• Renewable and degradable chemicals
• Green analytical chemistry

Knowledge and understanding:
Students learn the basic principles of green and sustainable chemistry. They must be able to do and understand stoichiometric calculations and relate them to green process metrics. They learn alternative solvent media and energy sources for chemical processes. They learn about renewable feedstocks for the chemical industry, present and under development. They review the principles of catalysis, photochemistry and other interesting processes from the viewpoint of green chemistry. They perform laboratory experiments in which they apply some of the concepts previously learnt (stoichiometry, green metrics …) and they put into practice some of the principles of green chemistry.

• P. T. Anastas, J. C. Warner, “Green Chemistry. Theory and Practice”, Oxford University Press, 1998. Catalogue E-version
• M. Lancaster, “Green Chemistry. An Introductory Text”, 2nd Ed., RSC Publishing, 2010. Catalogue E-version
• J. Clark, D. Macquarrie, “Handbook of Green Chemistry & Technology”, Blackwell Science, 2002.
• P. Tundo, A. Perosa, F. Zecchini (Eds.), “ Methods and Reagents for Green Chemistry. An introduction”, Wiley-Interscience, 2007. E-version
• P. Buell, J. Girard, “Chemistry Fundamentals. An Environmental Perspective”, 2nd Ed., Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2003. Catalogue
• Ira N. Levine, “Physical Chemistry”, 6th Ed., McGraw-Hill, 2008. E-version

• Written examination including theory and calculations (70 %) * Laboratory reports (20 %) * Oral presentation at the end of the course, in which students present a topic related to green chemistry and relate it to the subject content (10 %).

Prof. Dr. Urška Lavrenčič Štangar is a full professor for the field of chemistry, employed at the University of Nova Gorica. She is involved in research projects on photocatalysis and is an academic committee member of the European Photocatalysis Federation. She has published more than 70 scientific articles, 5 patents and she holds over 1100 citations. Her expertise in teaching includes the courses “Chemistry” and “Environmentally Friendly Technologies” in the Bachelor programme, and as a visiting professor, the course “Processes and materials for the exploitation of sustainable energy” in the graduate study programme at the University of Padova. In 2006 she received the Slovene national “Zois Award” for research achievements.

1. KETE, Marko, PAVLICA, Egon, FRESNO, Fernando, BRATINA, Gvido, LAVRENČIČ ŠTANGAR, Urška. Highly active photocatalytic coatings prepared by a low-temperature method. Environmental science and pollution research international, ISSN 0944-1344. [Print ed.], 2014, 12 str., doi: 10.1007/s11356-014-3077-3.
2. MAHNE, Dunja, LAVRENČIČ ŠTANGAR, Urška, TREBŠE, Polonca, GRIESSLER BULC, Tjaša. TiO2-based photocatalytic treatment of raw and constructed-wetland pretreated textile wastewater. International journal of photoenergy, ISSN 1110-662X, 2012, vol. 2012, str. 1-12, doi: 10.1155/2012/725692.
3. ČERNIGOJ, Urh, LAVRENČIČ ŠTANGAR, Urška, JIRKOVSKÝ, Jaromír. Effect of dissolved ozone or ferric ions on photodegradation of thiacloprid in presence of different TiO2 catalysts. Journal of hazardous materials, ISSN 0304-3894. [Print ed.], 2010, vol. 177, iss. 1/3, str. 399-406.
4. ČERNIGOJ, Urh, LAVRENČIČ ŠTANGAR, Urška, TREBŠE, Polonca. Degradation of neonicotinoid insecticides by different advanced oxidation processes and studying the effect of ozone on TiO2 photocatalysis. Applied catalysis. B, Environmental, ISSN 0926-3373. [Print ed.], 2007, vol. 75, str. 229-238.
5. STATHATOS, Elias, LIANOS, Panagiotis, LAVRENČIČ ŠTANGAR, Urška, OREL, Boris. A high-performance solid-state dye-sensitized photoelectrochemical cell employing a nanocomposite gel electrolyte made by the sol-gel route. Advanced materials, ISSN 0935-9648, 2002, vol. 14, no. 5, str. 354-357.