ABSTRACT
Chemical industry owes its existence to society’s need for various products. Chemical industry can be viewed as a system that converts various raw materials into useful and waste products using energy, and sometimes producing energy (Figure 11.1). At this point, we will introduce our working de nition of sustainability. Angela Markel [1] de ned sustainability as the use of resources no faster than they are regenerated and releasing pollutants to no greater extent than natural resources can assimilate them. This de nition will be re ned later in Chapter 13 but will suf ce for the moment.
