Journal of Cleaner Production 294 (2021) 126137

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Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

Green chemistry contribution towards more equitable global

sustainability and greater circular economy: A systematic literature
review
Cecilia Silvestri a, *, Luca Silvestri b, Antonio Forcina c, Gianpaolo Di Bona d,
Domenico Falcone d
a
University of “Tuscia” of Viterbo, Department of Economics and Management (DEIM), Via del Paradiso, 47, 01100 Viterbo, Italy
b
University of Rome “Niccolo
Cusano”, Department of Engineering, Via Don Carlo Gnocchi, 3, Rome, 00166, Italy
c
University of Naples “Parthenope”, Department of Engineering, Isola C4, Centro Direzionale Napoli, Napoli, Italy
d
University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Via G. Di Biasio 43, Cassino, 03043, Italy

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Green chemistry has been a major driver of sustainable development and had an important diffusion in
Received 30 May 2020 recent years. In order to investigate the state of the art in this field, a systematic literature review has
Received in revised form been performed, also identifying possible developments for future research. In particular, the aim of this
19 January 2021
research is to investigate how Green Chemistry (GC), Sustainability and Circular Economy (CE) concepts
Accepted 26 January 2021
are related to each other and how researchers are addressing and analyzing this relation.
Available online 6 February 2021
Since the nature of chemistry is to produce intermediate goods that are generally used by other in-
^as de
Handling Editor: Cecilia Maria Villas Bo dustries, the focus has been mainly placed on industrial sector. In other words, chemistry involves most
Almeida of production systems.
According to systematic literature review methodology, different research questions were formulated,
in order to schematize and to get a comprehensive view about the evolution of green chemistry research.
The selected articles were analyzed through different criteria, including the Triple Bottom Line (TBL)
framework, and were divided into different clusters, according to purposes, impacts and scope of each
research.
The analysis of papers shows that chemical industry is able to contribute to a fair transition towards a
greater economic, environmental and social sustainability. Even if the main focus of GC is the environ-
ment, GC is getting closer to TBL pillars, representing the main tool for chemical industry to implement
Sustainable Chemistry (SC) system and to realize the transition towards sustainability and CE. Finally,
main results were summarized in a framework that shows the connections among systems and tools,
highlighting main synergies.
Results highlight how GC is the tool through which it is possible realize the SC system. In particular, the
SC, in a CE system, can be involved in processes of production and recycling, ensuring more sustainable
environmental, economic and social systems. Furthermore, results show how GC and CE are getting
closer to each other highlighting the ongoing alignment of purposes among different tools and adopted
approaches in a holistic vision.
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction hazardous materials released into the environment and degrada-

During last decades, the rapid global population growth and the
increased standard of living contributed in drawing attention to
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: c.silvestri@unitus.it (C. Silvestri).
tion of natural resources.
The chemical sector is facing the grand challenge to reach
greener manufacturing processes, through an efficient consump-
tion of raw materials and eliminating or reducing waste. Research
on Green Chemistry (GC) is continuously evolving, especially dur-
ing last years, when several authors proposed GC metrics (Bours
et al., 2017; McElroy et al., 2015) or new business models (Lozano

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126137
0959-6526/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
C. Silvestri, L. Silvestri, A. Forcina et al.
et al., 2014a) for the implementation of GC principles (Anastas and
Warner, 1998). According to Manley et al. (2008), GC “challenges
innovators to design and utilize matter and energy in a way that
increases performance and value while protecting human health
and the environment” (p. 473). In fact, the final purpose of the GC is
to reduce negative effects on human health and environment
(Schwager et al., 2016), as well as to establish a strong connection
between GC itself and sustainability. According to Manley et al.
(2008), GC is an innovative and non-regulatory approach, driven
by sustainability and then oriented to a global sustainability scope.
To reach sustainability, a complex balance among resources
utilization, economic growth and environmental impact is
demanded. In fact, as stated during the World Summit on Social
Development (2005), sustainability development goals have to be
characterized by three main dimensions, that are: (1) environ-
mental; (2) economic; and (3) social. These three aspects have to be
considered as totally interdependent and they can reinforce each
other (Morelli, 2011). The concept of sustainability development is
also at the basis of the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) framework
(Elkington, 1994), that takes into account social, environmental and
economic performance, in order to achieve a sustainable develop-
ment and a new way of thinking for firm’s business strategies.
GC does not involve the three TBL dimensions a priori. However,
according to Manley et al. (2008), it represents a fundamental
aspect for the sustainability.
Certainly, the three TBL dimensions are related to the concept of
“Sustainable Chemistry” (SC). The German Environment Agency
states that “it is the objective of this concept [SC] to combine, on the
basis of recent scientific knowledge, the preventive protection of
environment and health with an innovative economic strategy. This
strategy has been designed to create high added-value jobs” (p. 6).
During last decades, GC and SC have been often used inappro-
priately as synonyms (Tundo et al., 2000). In 2017, German Envi-
ronment Agency affirmed that International Sustainable Chemistry
Collaborative Centre should have increased efforts to remove any
ambiguity for GC and SC concepts, because of GC offers useful rules
for the “chemical synthesis”, while SC integrates GC principles by
default, as well as it considers GC principles for the assessing of
products, processes and applications in a holistic perspective. In
fact, GC, deriving from a perspective of design and production,
mainly focuses on technical aspects and engineering issues (i.e.
synthesis processes, atomic economics and utilization of solvent).
On the other hand, SC includes all life cycle stages and surrounding
areas, as well as the direct and indirect relations with environment,
economic and social perspectives (Blum et al., 2017).
In a such context, GC can be considered as a prerequisite and a
fundamental part of SC (Blum et al., 2017), while SC as a system for
chemical development, where chemistry is applied in a safer and
eco-friendly way, being able to face issues related to economic and
social impacts for all life cycle stages (Chen et al., 2020; Marion
et al., 2017).
According to Nosonovsky and Bhushan (2012), GC and SC con-
cepts, together with “Green Engineering” (GE) concept
(Nosonovsky and Bhushan, 2012, p.3), define the so-called “green
tribology” concept that is based on twelve principles.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines GE as
‘‘the design, commercialization and use of processes and products
that are technically and economically feasible while minimizing (1)
generation of pollution at the source (2) risk to human health and
the environment’’ (Slater et al., 2005).
Brennecke (2004), analyzing GE and GC definitions, states that
GE deals with design, marketing and the use of all the types pro-
cesses and products, while GC includes only a subset of these as-
pects, that are: process designs and chemical products. The author
declared: “So Green Chemistry is a subset of Green Engineering!”
2
Journal of Cleaner Production 294 (2021) 126137
(Brennecke, 2004, p.362).
Although these concepts can be used in an interchangeable way,
Marteel-Parrish and Abraham (2014) considers “each of these
concepts embodies slightly different ideas and encompasses
different scopes of activity” (p.22). However, the interdisciplinarity
is undeniable. Both GC and GE “help to balance the need to improve
quality of life while maintaining the health of humans and the
environment” (Matus et al., 2012, p. 193). In this regard, sustain-
ability goes beyond GE e GC concepts (Marteel-Parrish and
Abraham, 2014).
Sustainability and sustainable development are ethical theories
that define desirable results in a context that takes into account
environmental, economic and social aspects (Voigt et al., 2013).
1.1. Green chemistry and circular economy
According to Voigt et al. (2013), GC can be considered as the
chemical philosophy that encourages “the design of products and
processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of haz-
ardous substances” (p.150).
The limitation of hazardous chemical substances in the cycle of
materials is not only a way for protecting the human health and the
environment, but also an opportunity for the future reuse of ma-
terials and, then, for the enhancement of the circular economy (CE)
(European Environmental Bureau, 2017).
CE is defined as “restorative and regenerative by design, and
aims to keep products, components and materials at their highest
utility and value at all times” (Stahel, 2016, p. 436). The European
Environment Agency noted that a “particular concern in the
context of a circular economy is our increasing reliance on chem-
icals. When closing material loops, accumulation of hazardous
substances should, in principle, be prevented. A key challenge in
this respect is striking the right balance between the quantities of
materials to be recycled and their (nontoxic) quality” (European
Environmental Bureau, 2017, p.6). The management of hazardous
chemical substances is considered a priority for ensuring a high
level of the health and environment protection, promoting a cir-
cular approach to the economy (EUROPEAN, 2017). CE aims for
ambitious objectives and one of the main issues is exactly repre-
sented by the presence of hazardous chemical substances that can
enter, or re-enter, in the environment and technosphere. Such
substances can reappear in end products that have been made from
waste, entailing risks for humans and environment (Bodar et al.,
2018). This aspect represents the main motivation for their exclu-
sion from material flows and a key element for obtaining a CE that
operates to its full potential (Swedish Society for Nature
Conservation, 2018).
Therefore, it seems evident how CE is strongly related to the
concept of GC. According to Smieja and Babcock (2017), GC is an
integral part of each strategy based on circular business models and
both concepts share several environmental purposes.
Chen et al. (2020) highlights the necessity to define new stra-
tegies for the GC implementation following a CE perspective. Ac-
cording to Clark et al. (2016), a full synergy between purposes of
chemical industry and CE will be possible when chemistry,
considering both academic and industrial contexts, would have
changed their aspirations to meet CE purposes.
Keijer et al. (2019) also discussed the possibility to reach an ideal
circularity, by reusing chemical products countless times and
considering energy as the only input of the process. In particular,
the authors developed twelve principles for a “circular chemistry”
(p.190). Such approach aims to enlarge the concept of sustainability
from the optimization of processes to the entire lifecycle of
chemical products. The authors analyzed the importance to in-
crease the efficiency of resources through the value chain of
C. Silvestri, L. Silvestri, A. Forcina et al.
product, as well as they highlighted the necessity to develop new
chemical reactions for reusing and recycling of chemical sub-
stances. The final purpose is to develop a perfect circular system
without any waste generation. Therefore, CE redefines the concept
of chemical processes, considering them as “sustainable” when
people, resources and profit are taken into account, and then
reproducing the TBL perspective (Elkington, 2018; Keijer et al.,
2019). In fact, several authors demonstrated such relation be-
tween CE and sustainability (Korhonen et al., 2018a; 2018b;
Kristensen and Mosgaard, 2020; Rossi et al., 2020).
The CE concept is also related to other terms, such as “Green
Economy” and “Bioeconomy”. In particular, the latter has a com-
plementary role together with the CE (European Commission,
2017) and it can be defined as “an economy based on the sustain-
able production and conversion of renewable biomass into a range
of bio-based products, chemicals and energy” (De Besi and
McCormick, 2015; Na €yh€
a, 2019, p.1296). Synergies between these
two concepts are particularly relevant (Kardung et al., 2020). Ac-
cording to important industrial associations, such as CEPI
(Confederation of European Paper Industries) and EuropaBio (The
European Association for Bioindustries), it is necessary a greater
integration among both concepts, which should be developed
along with other concepts rather than in a parallel manner. In fact,
these associations use and support the “circular bioeconomy”
concept (CEPI, 2017; EuropaBio, 2017).
Also in this concept, the GC has a crucial role. GC innovations
have the prospective to make the use of the biomass more efficient
in terms of costs if compared to fossil raw materials (Kardung et al.,
2020). The constant research of alternatives to the petroleum-
based raw materials by scientists, industrialists and politics, high-
lights the role of the GC in reaching the primary goal of a sustain-
able chemistry in the long term horizon (Ciriminna et al., 2020). If
the twentieth century saw the rise of industries that used the pe-
troleum as the main source for energy and chemistry, the so-called
“the petroleum industries”, the twenty-first century is character-
ized by the gradual transition towards “biomass industries” (Clark,
2007, p. 605), where the biological resources are going to be the
main source for both energy and chemistry (Bozell, 2008). Until
today, these biological resources have been used and disposed as
waste or, alternatively, sold for future uses, such as feed for live-
stock (Ciriminna et al., 2020). According to Clark (2007), following
this approach, it is possible to develop a new sustainable society
that is based on renewable resources, where the conversion process
will be performed by the so-called “biorefinery”. In this context, the
implementation of technologies and GC principles directly within
the biorefinery will be essential for minimizing the environmental
impact (Azapagic et al., 2004; Clark, 2007).
The CE implementation and everything that follows require a
legislation oriented to eco-innovations (Stankeviciene_ et al., 2020)
and able to promote enterprises in developing innovative solutions
for reducing production waste, as well as for obtaining a “green”
production and consumption (Kalmykova et al., 2016). In other
words, CE is able to generate its beneficial effect if it is implemented
in a “Green Economy” context (Stankevi ciene_ et al., 2020). The
“Green Economy” is often considered as a concept that includes
elements of CE and bioeconomy (D’Amato et al., 2017), and able to
“result in improved human well-being and social equity, while
significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities.
In its simplest expression, a green economy can be thought of as
one which is low carbon, resource efficient and socially inclusive”
(UNEP, 2011, p. 1).
Such background highlights how the GC focus is in line with
broader concepts of sustainability and CE. In particular, GC gives
theoretical and technological fundamentals for implementing
strategies oriented to transmaterialization and dematerialization
3
Journal of Cleaner Production 294 (2021) 126137
within chemical companies and beyond. These are the conditio sine
qua non for using, in an efficient way, resources that are limited in
availability. Indeed, through the implementation of these two
processes, it is possible a transition towards a sustainable society,
that is characterized by significant changes in using energy and
resources (Mulvihill et al., 2011). The GC allows to identify oppor-
tunities for innovating sustainability (Matus et al., 2012). However,
to achieve the goal and fully understand the GC potential, it is
necessary a transformation that involves social, political, economic
and technological factors (Mulvihill et al., 2011).
The increasing number of research studies related to the GC
suggested, to the authors of this study, to investigate literature to
figure out how and if research efforts, focused on GC, are embracing
the sustainability concept in its broader definition. In other words,
how GC is approaching main sustainability aspects, including ele-
ments of the TBL and the CE approach.
Basing on this consideration, the aim of this study is to under-
stand and analyze how much such “chemical philosophy” has been
accepted and shared by scientific communities, as well as industrial
sectors. GC promotes the interdisciplinary design and the devel-
opment of new technologies that represent the principles of sus-
tainability (Mulvihill et al., 2011). Since GC aims to reach
sustainability and CE, it is important to understand the state-of-
the-art in this area and how much such concepts are getting
close to each other.
The focus consists in investigating the role of GC in business, in a
perspective of sustainability and CE. In this context, GE was not
taken into account because, in this phase of study, the authors have
maintained the focus on the chemical area.
For this purpose, a systematic literature review (SLR) method-
ology has been used. A SLR is considered an important tool to un-
derstand the existing state of knowledge on given questions.
Compared to traditional review, SLR differs by using replicable,
scientific and transparent processes (Tranfield et al., 2003a,b),
reducing the risk of bias introduction or lack of critical evaluation
(Briner and Denyer, 2012; Kitchenham, 2004; Tranfield et al.,
2003a,b). Furthermore, the methodological design allows to eval-
uate what is known for the identified review questions, but also
what is not known, finding limitations of existing studies and
prospects for further research (Briner et al., 2009).
The article is organized as follow: in Section 2 the aim of the
review is presented, including SLR questions and contributions to
GC that are present in literature; Section 3 defines the research
methodology; Section 4 includes the material collection phase; in
Section 5 the analysis of articles is carried out. In particular, it is
divided in “Index calculation and database analysis” and “Temporal
distribution and evolution of publications, sources and authors”;
Section 6 and 7 illustrate how structural dimensions and analytical
categories have been identified; Section 8 contains discussions,
Section 9 “Limitations and future perspective” and Conclusions are
presented in final Section 10.
Finally, because of the strong interdisciplinarity among all these
concepts, Table S1, that summarizes concepts, focuses and differ-
ences, has been provided as supplementary file.
2. Research questions and purpose of the paper e (step 1)
The relation between GC and sustainability is a research topic
that has been widely debated in literature and, today (April 15,
2020), it is possible to find seven literature reviews that investi-
gated such relation.
First review was published by García-Serna et al., in 2007 and it
focuses on the concept of “Green Engineering” and how this
approach can promote sustainability.
In 2011, Rodrigues and Joekes discussed some aspects of cement
C. Silvestri, L. Silvestri, A. Forcina et al.
industry in relation to environmental sciences. In particular, au-
thors paid attention on the role of cement chemistry in terms of
sustainability.
Coish et al. (2016) proposed a more technical review focused on
the current state of the “sustainable innovation” (p.1) and on future
challenges for the environmental risk reduction.
Schwager et al. (2016) provided an overview of GC and SC in the
context of “Agenda 2030” for the sustainable development, finding
that, to explore and to promote the GC and SC potential, innovative
models for business and CE are needed.
In their review, Chaturvedi et al. (2017) discussed how phar-
maceutical companies are becoming interested to sustainability,
considering the relation among environmental aspects, economic
growth and social welfare as the main critical factor.
The topic of CE is also analyzed by Loste et al. (2020), with the
aim to evaluate the GC contributes to drive the transition to CE.
Finally, Nambela et al. (2020) developed a review on the relation
between GC and sustainability. In particular, when such concepts
are applied to the industrial sector of textile colorants.
Table 2 shows main features of seven reviews presented in this
paragraph, focused on relation between GC, sustainability and CE
during last years. In particular, Table 1 gives a clearer and more
concise summarization of some aspects, differentiating existing
literature reviews on GC and sustainability.
In these previous reviews, none of the authors studied how GC is
related to both TBL and CE simultaneously or considered the whole
chemical industry chain. Finally, the SLR approach has never used
before.
The aim of this literature review is to provide a comprehensive
overview of how the research on GC has evolved to address chal-
lenges raised by sustainability, that is characterized by the three
TBL main dimensions (environmental, economic, social), and CE, as
well as identifying potential directions for future research on the
subject.
Such overview can represent a powerful tool to understand and
predict how firms, operating in the chemical sector, as well as ac-
ademic studies, are dealing the key issues of the sustainability. To
the authors’ best knowledge, a similar study has not been reported
in literature to date.
To achieve these aims, we tried to answer the following research
questions:
RQ1 e How are firms dealing with green chemistry issue?
RQ2 e What are the obstacles and the possible solutions
encountered by the industrial system?
RQ3 e How are governments and academic research addressing
the policymaking in GC?
RQ4 e What are the recommended practices for the
Table 1
Literature review on green chemistry and sustainability.
Authors Database Source
García-Serna et al. WoS Chemical Engineering Journal
(2007)
Rodrigues and Wos Environmental Chemistry Letters
Joekes (2011)
Coish et al. (2016) WoS ACS Sustainable Chemistry &
Engineering
Schwager et al. WoS Current Opinion in Green and
(2016) Sustainable Chemistry
Chaturvedi et al. Scopus Journal of Cleaner Production
(2017)
Loste et al. (2020) WoS Environmental Science and
Pollution Research
Nambela et al. WoS Journal of Cleaner Production
(2020)
Source: authors’ elaboration
Journal of Cleaner Production 294 (2021) 126137
implementation of GC by academics and practitioners?
RQ5 e Which are the comprehensive studies that show exper-
imental applications of GC to industrial processes?
RQ6 e What is the relation between GC and the TBL framework?
This SLR aims to answer to these questions and analyze a sig-
nificant part of literature concerning CG, sustainability and CE.
Main innovations were introduced to better understand the topic at
hand. As first, the relation among GC, sustainability and CE were
investigated through a systematic approach to obtain a compre-
hensive analysis and a reproducible methodology, including
rigorous research criteria. Moreover, such analysis involves several
industrial sectors to explain how they are approaching CG, sus-
tainability and CE issues. In fact, GC has a wide application area,
being “the study of matter and all of its transformations” (Manley
et al., 2008, p. 744).
3. Methodology
To provide a general framework about GC evolution, a SLR was
carried out. The SLR methodology was first adopted in medicine
(Saade et al., 2020) and successively in other fields, such as social
sciences, engineering (Bastas and Liyanage, 2018; Sassanelli et al.,
2019; Stuck et al., 1999), business and economics (Aquilani et al.,
2017; Colicchia and Strozzi, 2012; Merli et al., 2018). The aim of
SLR is “to identify, evaluate and interpret research relevant to a
determined topic area, research question or phenomenon of in-
terest” (Kitchenham, Charters, 2007; Muller et al., 2019) (p. 398). In
particular, according to Muller et al. (2019), the SLR allows to (1)
summarize the existing evidence in a topic, (2) identify gaps in the
state-of-art, proposing areas for further investigation, and (3)
provide a framework as support for further research activities.
In methodological terms, literature review allows to investigate
a given topic through both qualitative and quantitative content
analysis (Merli et al., 2018; Seuring and Muller, 2008). Several au-
thors proposed specific frameworks to define SLR phases. Accord-
ing to Tranfield et al. (2003a,b), the SLR process should follow three
main steps, that are: planning, execution, and reporting. According
to the approach suggested by Briner and Denyer (2012), to conduct
a SLR, the following steps are needed: 1) formulation of research
questions; 2) exploration and analysis of literature, through ad hoc
chosen keywords; 3) inclusion of only papers that meet research
criteria and goals (fit-for-purpose method); 4) construction of a
database, where articles and findings are evaluated and sorted; and
5) synthesis phase, in which results are extracted from database
and discussed.
Following a transparent protocol, SLRs use a series of selection
criteria that, explicitly, evaluate how much the selected paper is
Aim Focus TBL pillars
Green engineering and chemical Process general industry Environmental
engineering vs sustainability
Cement chemistry and Sustainability Process cement industry Environmental
environmental
Molecular design for reduced hazard Molecular design process in Environmental
industrial chemicals
Green Chemistry and Sustainable Business model: Chemical Environmental,
Chemistry Leasing Economic, Social
Green chemistry and Sustainable practices Process pharmaceutical industry Environmental,
Economic, Social
Green chemistry and Circular Economy Business model Environmental,
Economic, Social
Green synthesis and Sustainability Process textile colorants Environmental,
Economic
4
C. Silvestri, L. Silvestri, A. Forcina et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 294 (2021) 126137

Table 2
e List of selected journals.

Journal n %

Green Chemistry 19 20.0%

Journal of Cleaner Production 10 10.5%
ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering 9 9.5%
Resources Conservation and Recycling 6 6.3%
Chemsuschem 5 5.3%
Current Opinion In Green And Sustainable Chemistry 3 3.2%
Green Chemistry Letters And Reviews 3 3.2%
Chemical Engineering Journal 2 2.1%
Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy 2 2.1%
Green Processing and Synthesis 2 2.1%
Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research 2 2.1%
Journal of Applied Biomaterials and Functional Materials 2 2.1%
Resources-Basel 2 2.1%
Aci Materials Journal 1 1.1%
Benchmarking 1 1.1%
Business Strategy And The Environment 1 1.1%
Corporate Environmental Strategy 1 1.1%
Energy Science And Engineering 1 1.1%
Environment, Development And Sustainability 1 1.1%
Environmental and Socio-Economic Studies 1 1.1%
Environmental Chemistry Letters 1 1.1%
Environmental Engineering Science 1 1.1%
Environmental Progress 1 1.1%
Environmental Science & Technology 1 1.1%
European Journal of Operational Research 1 1.1%
Environmental Science And Pollution Research 1 1.1%
Foods 1 1.1%
Food Engineering Reviews 1 1.1%
Guocheng Gongcheng Xuebao/The Chinese Journal of Process Engineering 1 1.1%
International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 1 1.1%
IPPTA: Quarterly Journal of Indian Pulp and Paper Technical Association 1 1.1%
Journal of ASTM International 1 1.1%
Journal of Industrial Ecology 1 1.1%
Journal of Polymers And The Environment 1 1.1%
Journal of The Royal Society Interface 1 1.1%
Physical Sciences Reviews 1 1.1%
Scientific Reports 1 1.1%
Science of The Total Environment 1 1.1%
Sn Applied Sciences 1 1.1%
Sustainability 1 1.1%
World Transactions on Engineering and Technology Education 1 1.1%
Total 95 100%

Source: Authors’ elaborations

relevant in responding to the research question (Xavier et al., 2017).
For example, the C-I-M-O (context-intervention-mechanism-
outcome) framework (Briner and Denyer, 2012; Denyer and
Tranfield, 2009) is a common approach used for the selection of
research keywords (Abdul et al., 2014; Caiado et al., 2017; Garza-
Reyes, 2015; Xavier et al., 2017).
Mayring (2004) proposed a model based in four steps: 1) ma-
terial collection; 2) descriptive analysis; 3) category selection; and
4) material evaluation. In particular, such model allows to evaluate
the collected papers through specific criteria based on topics and
analytical categories (Merli et al., 2018).
In this study, the C-I-M-O framework was adopted to select both
research keywords and articles, while the Mayring (2004) approach
was chosen for the evaluation of papers (Fig. 1).
In particular, through the research keywords analysis, the C-I-
M-O framework allowed the authors to define the specific research
focus, excluding articles that do not match with the scope of the
review. The Mayring (2004) model is commonly applied in SLR
concerning sustainability (Klewitz and Hansen, 2014; Merli et al.,
2018; Seuring and Muller, 2008; Shukla and Jharkharia, 2013) and
it also allows to classify a large number of documents, highlighting
main trends.
4. Material collection e (step 2)
This research investigated on main electronic databases,
including Scopus (scopus.com) and Web of Science (WoS) data-
bases, that today are considered as the most complete scientific
databases by scientific community (Chadegani et al., 2017; Guz and
Rushchitsky, 2009). Only peer-reviewed journals were considered,
and then excluding reports or conference papers. In fact, the journal
establishment and its availability for the readers are considered as
key aspects to ensure a high quality of the literature review (Guz
and Rushchitsky, 2009; Chadegani et al., 2017; Merli et al., 2018).
The English language is generally considered as the international
academic language (Genç, B., Bada, 2010; Merli et al., 2018), for this
motivation we chose to focus only on English language journals.
The search strings used in both databases are: “green chemistry”
AND “sustainability”; “green chemistry” AND “circular economy”;
“green chemicals” AND “sustainability”; “green chemicals” AND
“circular economy”. The present study considers all articles pub-
lished before April 15, 2020.
In WoS database, the research was conducted by “Topic”, that
includes “Title, Author Keywords, Abstract, Keywords Plus”, while
in Scopus the search field type was “Article title, Abstract,
Keywords”.
The C-I-M-O framework consists in the following inclusion/

5
C. Silvestri, L. Silvestri, A. Forcina et al.
Fig. 1. Revision process. Authors’ elaboration.
exclusion criteria:

Inclusion criteria: all the papers that analyze GC, sustain-
ability and CE in the industry field and that are focused on
chemical sector;

Exclusion criteria: all the papers that do not focus on
chemical sector, although they analyze GC, sustainability and
CE;
Furthermore, a second filter was applied to focus on the
following subject areas:
I) Scopus: Social Sciences; Business, Management and Ac-
counting; Economics, Econometrics and Finance; Decision
Sciences; Engineering;
II) WoS: Green Sustainable Science Technology; Environmental
Studies; Engineering Environmental; Management; Food
Science Technology; Multidisciplinary Sciences; Operations
Research Management Science; Social Sciences Interdisci-
plinary or Business.
The inclusion of “Engineering” as subject area is mainly due to
three reasons: (1) the general aim of process engineering is to plan,
implement and execute programs able to guarantee the best op-
erations for companies (Mendoza-chaco n et al., 2016; Sengupta
et al., 2015); (2) the concept of process engineering is followed by
the concept of chemical engineering, which can be applied to all
processes involved in industries (Dal Pont, 2013); (3) the principles
of GC are in accordance with the more recent “Principles of Green
Engineering” (Anastas and Zimmerman, 2003; De Mello et al.,
2017).
According to the aim of this study, all papers that include key-
words “firm”, “organization”, “company”, “corporation”,
6
Journal of Cleaner Production 294 (2021) 126137
“enterprise”, “industry”, and “industrial” were included. Fig. 2
shows the selection and evaluation processes.
The initial amount of collected papers from Scopus and WoS was
733 and 583, respectively. Through the application of filters and
eliminating duplicated papers, the remaining papers were 28 from
Scopus and 53 from WoS, respectively. Additional 14 papers were
included in both databases, and then the final number of papers is
95.
All articles were collected in a database by year, title, source title,
authors, number of authors, and nation of the authors. Further-
more, it was taken into account the evidence type (empirical/con-
ceptual or literature review), research design (qualitative/
quantitative), research method (i.e. case study, experiment, inter-
view, questionnaire), and the Triple Bottom Line dimensions
(Environmental, Economic, Social).
5. Descriptive analysis of the papers e (step 3)
5.1. Index calculation and database analysis
Until 2004, Thomson Reuters’ WoS database was the only
database that allowed the possibility to develop bibliometric ana-
lyses, such as literature reviews.
In November 2004, Scopus database was presented by Elsevier
Science and soon became the WoS’ main competitor for the inter-
national market of scientific databases (S anchez et al., 2017).
In this context, several indexes and methods were used to
analyze the degree of overlap or similarities among databases. For
example, Meyer’s Index (Meyer et al., 1983) is an index that allows
to compare different databases, including the possibility to evaluate
the capability of a database to cover the same topic or and potential
C. Silvestri, L. Silvestri, A. Forcina et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 294 (2021) 126137

Fig. 2. Identification of relevant articles process. Authors’ elaboration.

traditional and relative overlaps (Sanchez et al., 2017).  

In this study, Meyer’s Index was used to understand how much jScopus∩WoSj
% Traditional overlap ¼ 100* (4)
the database covers the considered topic (Dur an-S
anchez et al., jScopus∪WoSj
2018). The index assigns the value “1” to primary sources con-  
tained in the selected database, such value will be progressively 12
% Traditional overlap ¼ 100 * ¼ 12:63% (5)
reduced every time that the same paper is also present in other 95
databases. For duplicated papers the value is reduced to “0.5”,
At greater value of TO, databases are considered more similar to
triplicated papers to “0.3”, and so on (Duran-S anchez et al., 2018;
nchez et al., 2017). Only two databases were each other. In this case, equation (5) shows a similarity of 12.63% or,
Merli et al., 2018; Sa
in opposite viewpoint, a difference of 87.37%.
used in this analysis and then secondary sources, that are contained
in both databases, have a weighting factor of 0.5. Greater Meyer’s
index is and more unique it will be the considered database 5.2. Temporal distribution and evolution of publications, sources
(Fabregat-Aibar et al., 2019). and authors

Articles and findings were evaluated and sorted in a database.

S Articles *weight The analysis of the database shows an increasing trend of number
Meyer’s Index ¼ (1) of papers from 2002 to April 15, 2020, especially from 2014 to 2019,
Total Articles
with the only exception of 2015 (Fig. 3). During this period, more
The following equations (2) and (3) show results for Scopus and than half of the total number of papers (63%) was realized. The total
WoS databases: of collected papers is 95.

30 þ ð12*0:5Þ
Scopus ¼ ¼ 0:378 (2)
95

53 þ ð14*0:5Þ
WoS ¼ ¼ 0:621 (3)
95
As it is possible to see, WoS database has a more singularity
(62.1%) than Scopus (37.8%).
The Traditional Overlap (TO) index, defined by Gluck (1990),
allows to measure the overlap percentage between two databases,
in this case they are Scopus and WoS. Fig. 3. - Temporal distribution of selected articles. Source: Authors’ elaboration.

7
C. Silvestri, L. Silvestri, A. Forcina et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 294 (2021) 126137

Most of the considered journals have GC and environmental Table 3

issues as main topic. The “Green Chemistry” is the journal with the e Number of authors per articles.

largest number of papers (20.0%), followed by “Journal of Cleaner Authors n %

Production” (10.5%) and “ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineer- 1 18 18.9%
ing” (9.5%) and the 5 most prolific journals account for 51.6% of 2 16 16.8%
records (Table 2). 3 18 18.9%
Fig. 4 shows the temporal distribution of articles published in 4 10 10.5%
5 33 34.7%
the first 5 journals. In 2014, there was the greatest number of
Tot 95 100.0%
published articles (7) and the simultaneous presence of all the first
Source: Authors’ elaborations
five journals. 2016 corresponds to the second year for number of
publications but they were published by only two journals (“Jour-
nal of Cleaner Production” and “ACS Sustainable Chemistry & En-
Geographical focus, Industries). Through the inductive analysis, and
gineering”). Fig. 4 also shows that the distribution of paper was not
then basing on collected material, two categories were identified
constant over the years. In fact, in some years, any of the five
(Research cluster, Keywords). Table 5 resumes the structural
journals published articles that match with the scope of this review.
dimension and relative analytical categories used for material
Finally, Table 3 shows the number of authors per article. A total of
evaluation. In particular, Table 4 shows, for each category and
34.7% of papers have a number of authors that is greater than or
structural dimension, the considered approach, that can be induc-
equal to 5 and 18.9% of papers have between 1 or 3 authors. Papers
tive or deductive.
with 4 authors represent the 10.5% of the total, that is the lowest
percentage.
7. Material evaluation e (step 5)

6. Category selection and material evaluation e (step 4)
The purpose of this research phase is to analyze main aspects
emerged from papers and categorize them accordingly. For such
purpose, as mentioned in Section 3, the Mayring (2004) model was
adopted. Fig. S1, included in the supplementary file, shows the
phases followed for the selection process and for the material
evaluation.
In order to determine main aspects that emerged from papers
and define provisional categories, a criterion, based on theoretical
background and research questions, was developed. Through a
feedback loop, categories were checked and, eventually, remodeled
and verified (Kohlbacher, 2006).
Generally, methods used for the qualitative analysis are two,
that are the inductive and deductive methods. Each analysis needs
three process phases, that are: 1) preparation, 2) organization, and
3) communication of results. Such two methods differ for the “or-
ganization” phase (Elo et al., 2014). More generally, the inductive
approach moves from the specific to general, while the deductive
approach, basing on a specific theory or an existing model, moves
from general to specific (Polit and Beck, 2004).
Furthermore, the inductive approach defines categories created
from raw data and without the use of any categorization matrix
based on theory, as it is the case of the deductive approach (Elo and
Kynga€s, 2008).
For the analysis of papers, six structural dimensions were
selected and, for each of them, analytical categories were defined.
For the definition of some categories, a deductive approach was
used. The categorization matrix was defined through a preliminary
analysis of articles (Sustainability/TBL, Research methodology,
In this section, main results obtained from Structural di-
mensions and Analytical categories are described.
7.1. Cluster of research
All the articles collected can be presented in three clusters
within the following items:
(1) “Strategy”: studies concerning how and at which level, GC
principles have been implemented in industrial sectors or in
different Countries of the world. In particular, they highlight
barriers and future perspectives, as well as propose new
business models for supporting the “strategic” imple-
mentation of GC principles;
(2) “Assessment and Practice”: studies proposing suggestions
and tools for the implementation of CG principles and
methods for assessing environmental performance of their
application. They generally show case studies where GC
principles were successful implemented;
(3) “Technical”: papers that include experimental applications of
GC principles in industrial processes.
Articles in the first cluster can be both conceptual and empirical.
Conceptual studies propose models, frameworks or reviews; the
empirical ones can present case studies or in-depth interviews with
academic researchers or environmental managers working in
multinational companies about green chemistry implementation.
Articles in the second cluster offer original suggestions on how
Table 4
e Approach, structural dimensions and analytical categories.

Approach Structural dimensions Analytical categories

Inductive Cluster of research Strategy

Assessment and Practice
Technical
Inductive Keywords Keywords families
Deductive Sustainability Economic
Environmental
Social
Deductive Research methodology Conceptual
Empirical
Deductive Industries Industrial sector
Deductive Geographical focus Geographical area analysis
Fig. 4. e Temporal distribution of the first five journals. Source: Authors’ elaborations.
Source: Authors’ elaborations

8
C. Silvestri, L. Silvestri, A. Forcina et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 294 (2021) 126137

Table 5
Articles related to research questions RQ1 RQ2 RQ3.

RQ1 e How are firms dealing with green chemistry issue?

RQ2 e What are the main obstacles that the industrial system encounters and what are possible solutions?

RQ3 e What is the role of governments and academic research in green chemistry policymaking?

Authors Methodology Interdisciplinary approach Focus

approach

Kirchhoff (2005) Framework Eco innovation Collaboration between industry, academia, and
government
Ho€fer and Bigorra Model Eco innovation Companies
(2007)
Iles (2008). Model Sustainability marketing approaches Companies
Manley et al. (2008) Qualitative GE - Eco Innovation Companies
Ananda et al. (2009) Model Business strategies Companies
Matus et al. (2012) Qualitative GE - Eco Innovation Companies
Watson (2012) Quantitative Corporate policy - Eco innovation Companies
Federsel (2013a,b) Framework Business strategies Companies
Scruggs (2013) Qualitative Chemicals Management Strategies Consumer products
Giraud et al. (2014) Quantitative Eco innovation Collaboration between Industries
Tarasova et al. (2014) Quantitative Sociological studies Companies
Green (2016) Model Science and Engineering areas Policy
Smieja and Babcock Model Product circularity Supply chain
(2017)
Freire (2018) Framework GE - Eco Innovation - Analysis of companies’ behavioral intentionality Companies
(willingness)
Koenig et al. (2019) Qualitative GE Supply chain
Chen et al. (2020) Qualitative Product circularity Chemical management system
Ratti (2020) Qualitative Eco innovation Companies

Source: Authors’ elaborations

to improve CG principles and how to apply them. Generally, they
propose new indexes or models to assess the sustainability of
chemicals processes or to figure out the implementation level of GC
principles. They can also report case studies were GC principles
have been successful applied.
The third cluster includes articles that present empirical results
obtained from experiments or in industrial environments.
Fig. 5 shows the temporal distribution of papers for each cluster.
As it is possible to see, the largest cluster is the “Assessment and
Practice” cluster, confirming that, before managing a new approach,
it is needed to know how to measure and assess it. Only in this way,
it is possible to evaluate if the chosen path for achieving sustain-
ability is the right one.
Beside general indicators, several articles present case studies
where GC principles have been implemented in an excellent way.
Such cases result useful to understand which are most effective
tools for the GC implementation.
7.1.1. “Strategy”, “Assessment and Practice” and “technical” clusters
The first cluster contains 23 articles published from 2005 to
April 15, 2020, concerning how GC principles have been imple-
mented in industrial sectors or in different Countries of the world.
Fig. 5. e Temporal distribution of clusters. Source: Authors’ elaboration.
Within the first cluster, articles that propose new methodolo-
gies generally contain in-depth interviews and questionnaires.
Articles that belong to the first cluster provide an analysis of the
level of the implementation of GC principles, in several areas of
chemical industry. They focus on both obstacles and future per-
spectives, proposing new business models to support the strategic
application of GC.
According to Ananda et al. (2009), the “green” or “sustainable”
chemistry is considered as the new paradigm to which industry can
refer to meet the corporate environmental responsibility, especially
the chemical sector. GC represents an integral part of the global
competitiveness of the chemical industry, in particular for Austra-
lian industries (Ananda et al., 2009). They developed a “roadmap”
(p.1051) to support the process of “greening of the Australian
chemical industry over the next two decades” (p.1051) and for
achieving competitive advantages. In 2008, Iles (2008) already
argued that the chemical industry would have faced several chal-
lenges towards sustainability, thanks to “the transformation of
chemical technologies, products and infrastructure to use less en-
ergy and matter, be less toxic and draw on renewable energy and
feedstocks” (p.532). However, the author referred not only to
technical aspects, but also to business management for a satisfying
implementation of GC. Indeed, the author stated that the greatest
obstacle is represented by the lack of business strategies able to
make GC actions commercially valuable. Furthermore, the author
focused on chemical industrial efforts in United States, highlighting
the weakness of the market signals and discussing potential
methods to improve the GC market and related obstacles. Finally,
the author pointed out the importance to create an efficient in-
formation flow about GC within the firm and to establish new re-
lations with supply chain partners, sharing with them information
useful to achieve environmental and productivity goals.
The analysis of the barriers for GC implementation was also
faced by Matus et al. (2012). In particular, they focused on Chinese
chemical industry. Their results indicate that, despite the growing
application of GC principles in China, the greatest barrier to their

9
C. Silvestri, L. Silvestri, A. Forcina et al.
implementation is represented by the difficulty in reaching a
proper balance between the generation of profit and the environ-
mental protection, as well as the lack of expert human capital. The
same authors also identified policies as one of the main drivers to
achieve GC implementation. The importance of policies was also
analyzed by Green (2016). The author stated that the reason for the
slow application of GC paradigms is mainly due, in addition to a low
level of knowledge, to the passivity of the whole industrial system
and the lack of political and financial incentives. The author argued
that plans for enhancing the sustainability of chemical processes,
for the whole supply chain, can be promoted only by public policies.
One important example is the emerging concept of the “chemical
leasing”, promoted by the United Nations Industrial Development
Organization (UNIDO, 2011), with the aim to integrate policy ini-
tiatives on several settings, including scientific and technological
fields, as well as to promote CG and the “sustainable chemistry”
(Lozano et al., 2014a).
The “chemical leasing” concept was also investigated by Lozano
et al. (2014) and Schwager et al. (2016). Lozano et al. (2014a) pro-
posed a critical reflection on this concept, stating that, although
both suppliers and users can get economic and environmental
advantages, the “chemical leasing” is restricted only to some
chemicals, that consist in solvents and catalysts. Therefore, Lozano
et al. (2014a) argued a more clear and precise definition of the
“chemical leasing”, considering it as part of a holistic approach that
takes into account economic, environmental, social and temporal
aspects. Schwager et al. (2016) investigated the potential of
“chemical leasing” to integrate green and sustainable chemistry at
global scale, identifying the need of innovative business models to
facilitate the involvement of different elements, including the in-
dustrial sector.
Freire (2018) came to the same conclusion, although the author
focused his study on the behavioral analysis of firms rather than the
“chemical leasing”. In particular, studying behavioral and innova-
tive theories, the author developed a general conceptual frame-
work to understand the threshold beyond which firms are willing
to engage in environmental innovation. Results highlighted the
importance of some stakeholders or strategic partnerships to
develop conditions for technical and non-technical changes within
firms.
According to Tarasova et al. (2014), although Russia was inter-
ested to join the World Trade Organization in 1993, the lack of
strategical plans for adapting industry to GC paradigms led to
negative results. In other words, Russian companies needed syn-
ergic business models for a proper implementation of GC.
Giraud et al. (2014) considered the collaboration among com-
panies as the key factor to ensure the sustainability of chemical
firms. The authors argued that such collaboration can help com-
panies to identify more efficient processes, to develop guidelines
for each sector and to define strategies to turn innovative ideas in
feasible and economic technologies. The same authors underlined
the need to establish a “Roundtable” (p. 2241) among firms and
various organizations to achieve a mutually and advantageous ex-
change of knowledge and ideas for the application of GC principles.
An example of roundtable is given by the Green Chemistry Institute
Pharmaceutical Roundtable (GCIPR) of the American Chemical So-
ciety (ACS). It was established in 2005 to assist the progress of GC
and pharmaceutical industry at global scale (Koenig et al., 2019).
The authors pointed out the benefits from the partnership among
pharmaceutical firms and their supply chain partners, especially in
terms of costs saving and logistic optimization. More in details, the
Green Chemistry Institute Pharmaceutical Roundtable has offered
an overview of how firms, from different sector, faced challenges
and reached cost targets, improving sustainability performance.
Other studies (Chaturvedi et al., 2017; Federsel, 2013a,b; Watson,
10
Journal of Cleaner Production 294 (2021) 126137
2012) confirmed that GC has a central role on pharmaceutical
sector. Watson (2012) tried to determine how many firms are
actually applying GC based processes and, more in general, sus-
tainability principles. The author analyzes 11 firms classified as “big
pharma” (p.251) and affirms that, although satisfactory results have
been already obtained in the implementation of green technolo-
gies, the general framework remains unclear and varies widely.
Federsel (2013a,b) attempted to answer to the question: “What
is the relation between the Green Chemistry initiative and the
pharmaceutical industry?” (p. 3105). The author investigated stages
of GC implementation for the pharmaceutical industry, showing
how, from a difficult beginning, it caught up rapidly and success-
fully. To this end, the author also proposed some case studies of
excellence.
Veleva and Cue (2017) also explored the adoption of GC in “big
pharma” sector, as well as potential drivers, barriers and future
opportunities. In particular, the authors noted that main barriers
are represented by the lack of attention from government in placing
appropriate laws.
Chaturvedi et al. (2017) focused their attention to Indian phar-
maceutical production, stating that the sustainability can be
reached through a holistic approach involving the whole products’
life cycle. They assigned to Indian law the definitive role of pro-
moter of a successful application of GC, indicating a series of
mandatory guidelines to achieve the sustainability for all functional
elements involved in the supply chain. Furthermore, they high-
lighted the importance to establish a partnership between industry
and academic institutions to create a transparent data and infor-
mation exchange. According to Kirchhoff (2005) and García-Serna
et al. (2007), efforts for such type of collaboration are not only
strategic but also necessary for obtaining a definitive adoption of
GC supported by a task force of scientists and engineers.
Ho€fer and Bigorra (2008) considered the adoption of sustainable
strategies as the driving force for firms to pursue a state of health,
safety and wellness for consumer. However, they noted that laws
concerning chemicals have always been weak, although people and
environment are generally exposed to the risk of chemical
pollutants.
Scruggs (2013) showed that, despite the deficit of proper laws,
several companies in the consumer goods industry sector take
autonomous actions to minimize the use of hazardous chemicals.
Furthermore, a proper balance between the increasing of produc-
tion and a safer work environment seems to be one of the most
important objectives for the sustainability.
Manley et al. (2008) considered GC as the innovative approach
able to address the sustainability at “molecular level”, encouraging
scientists to design innovative processes to increase performance
and the value of products, protecting health and environment.
The second cluster contains 43 articles, concerning the identi-
fication of tools for assessing environmental performance of firms
and practices for supporting the implementation of GC principles.
The rapid development of process industries produced high pol-
lutants and environmental damages. In this context, GC principles
appear as a powerful tool to address these issues. However, it is also
important to introduce criteria and methods to assess the envi-
ronmental performance, as well as to define principles for a proper
ecological design (Zhang et al., 2005). Calvo-Flores (2009) intro-
duced some mathematical parameters to describe the sustainabil-
ity of chemical reactions and their environmental impact.
According to Lankey and Anastas (2002), to reach sustainability
goals and allow a more ecological industry, GC and engineering
should work together, designing all life cycle stages of chemicals by
a green design. For example, Zhang et al. (2005) proposed a model
in which engineering methods, for the design of process systems,
are applied for GC implementation.
C. Silvestri, L. Silvestri, A. Forcina et al.
According to Calvo-Flores (2009), the eco-design can also be
applied to industrial synthesis manufacturing processes. However,
although a green technology can appear as eco-friendly, this does
not mean that all processes and chemical reactions involved are
also a priori sustainable, as well as an all-inclusive method to assess
them does not exist.
According to Gonzalez and Smith (2003), to evaluate the sus-
tainability of a chemical process, a set of indicators or metrics for
the sustainability are needed. The GREENSCOPE (Gauging Reaction
Effectiveness for the ENvironmental Sustainability of Chemistries
with a multi-Objective Process Evaluator) is an indicator model,
designed by US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), to
evaluate the sustainability of a chemical reaction or process
involving the areas of environment, energy, efficiency and economy
(Gonzalez and Smith, 2003). In order to obtain sustainable chemical
processes, Ruiz-Mercado et al. (2014) introduced an innovative
methodological approach based on the simultaneous application of
the GREENSCOPE and the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Further-
more, Fadel and Tarabieh (2019) developed a “holistic industrial
environmental index (IEI)” (p.1) to evaluate the sustainability of
industrial chemical processes. His aim was to support industry for
applying innovative and effective indexes that are also valid in
other industrial sectors. Most authors considered the analysis of the
whole life cycle of chemical products and processes (i.e. LCA) as the
authentic key factor to guarantee the sustainability, improving
environmental impacts (Lankey and Anastas, 2002). In this context,
Subramaniam et al. (2016) illustrated, through the use of some
examples, the importance to integrate LCA with the techno-
economic analysis, especially during first phases of design. Re-
sults showed a more rationale development of sustainable chemi-
cal processes. Jime nez-Gonza lez and Overcash (2014) proposed an
overview of the potentiality of the LCA applied to pharmaceutical
and chemical industry. Sheldon (2007) focused on the evolution of
the so called “E-factor” that is the first general metric for green
chemistry, and it is defined as the ratio of the mass of waste and the
mass of product. In particular, the author highlighted the effect of
the E-factor during last fifteen years for the development of phar-
maceutical and chemical sectors and in a context of GC and
sustainability.
Even in this cluster, the pharmaceutical sector is analyzed by
several authors. Curzons et al. (2007), Rosenthal and Lütz (2018)
and Andraos (2019) explored chemical processes that are gener-
ally involved in pharmaceutical industry, assessing their environ-
mental impacts. Curzons et al. (2007) highlighted the necessity of
an easy methodology to provide indicators or metrics to assess the
“greenness” or the sustainability of processes related to Active
Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API). To this end, the authors based
their research on the use of the FLASC™ (Fast Life cycle Assessment
of Synthetic Chemistry), that is a tool web-based that meets these
requirements. In the pharmaceutical sector, the importance to
promote a continuous improvement on chemical processes, to
make them more green, is also highlighted by Van Der Vorst et al.
(2009). The authors showed that some methods are particularly
suited to evaluate the greenness, the ecoefficiency and sustain-
ability, giving a comprehensive example. The use of a proper
methodology for the assessment is essential because, as stated by
Van der Vorst et al. (2013) “you can only manage what you can
measure” (p.744). Rosenthal and Lütz (2018) analyzed the synthesis
processes for the APIs and stated that, although enzymatic pro-
cesses can contribute to a higher sustainability, there is the ne-
cessity to have reliable tools to measure their environmental
impact.
Andraos (2019) developed a standardized format to produce
accurate reports for the preparation of the green synthesis process,
this format can be also applied to chemical syntheses of APIs.
11
Journal of Cleaner Production 294 (2021) 126137
Another subject of analysis is the unconventional gas industry,
that has begun to use the hydraulic fracturing chemicals to reduce
risks associated with possible “chemical containment failure”. In
this context, Hurley et al. (2016) developed a comparative analysis
of methods for assessment based on the computation of the
chemical risk index, as well as the formulation of a “novel hydraulic
fracturing fluid greenness assessment system” (p. 647). Results
showed relevant benefits associated to such index, in particular in
promoting environmental-best practices for the unconventional
gas industry.
Bours et al. (2017) developed a methodology that integrates LCA
environmental impacts with other hazardous indexes originated
from additive manufacturing activities. Their results originated
from a study in which they explored several existing
methodologies.
García-Bustamante et al. (2018) proposed an index to assess the
sustainability of the chemical processes involved in the food sector,
where GC is highly demanded.
A further area investigated by several authors concerns the
application of GC in the cement production, that involves different
materials and processes, but also high volumes. These motivations
led Rodrigues and Joekes (2011) to discuss environmental aspects
related to the cement industry. They considered the improvement
of chemical processes as the key role for achieving sustainability.
Coppola et al. (2018) proposed different solutions to make the
cement industry more sustainable, reducing greenhouse gases
emissions and using renewable resources. In particular, they
focused on “greener” binding agents as an alternative to Portland
cement.
Kadzin ski et al. (2018) used the Multiple Criteria Decision Aiding
(MCDA) to assess GC implementation for nanoparticles synthesis.
The authors proposed a single framework to identify advantageous
related to common criteria used for sustainability assessment.
Already in 2012, Tian et al. (2012) used the MCDA to classify the
sustainability of three alternatives to glyphosate. Cespi et al. (2016)
used the MCDA to study 1,3-Butadiene production. The authors
highlighted the necessity for researchers to have a more “scientific”
and quantitative tool to evaluate the sustainability of processes
when they have been designed according to GC principles.
The metrics to assess the “greenness” of a chemical process
attracted the attention of several authors. For example, McElroy
et al. (2015) developed the “metrics toolkit” (p. 3111) to evaluate
the sustainability of reactions in a both quantitative and qualitative
way. It includes a wide range of holistic criteria to establish their
greenness, considering both upstream and downstream phases of
the reaction. The authors also proposed three innovative metrics,
that are: the optimum efficiency (OE), the renewable percentage
(RP) and the waste percentage (WP). Sheldon (2017) considered the
possibility to apply the traditional metrics, based on the “E-factor”
and on “atom economy”, to pharmaceutical and others chemical
products. The author concluded that such mass-based metrics have
several limitations in assessing the sustainability for the considered
sector and then he explored other metrics to meet “green” re-
quirements. According to Ho € fer and Bigorra (2008), biomass and
renewable raw materials are the authentic drivers to let industry
and sustainability meet together.
Hjeresen et al. (2002) affirmed that several innovative green
technologies have been developed during last years. Such tech-
nologies are able to provide both economic and environmental
benefits. The authors presented examples of some successful
implementations. Lepech et al. (2009) argued that the connection
among materials development, structural design and sustainability
is one of the main factors that helps the successful application of GC
principles. For this reason, they proposed a framework to design
green materials, showing a comprehensive case study. In particular,
C. Silvestri, L. Silvestri, A. Forcina et al.
they focused their attention on tools that is possible to use during
the products’ development and related benefits.
Hunt et al. (2014) focused on phytoextraction, showing how this
process can be considered as an example of the application of GC.
Sheldon (2016) stressed the fact that is possible to design a more
sustainable world basing on catalysis process. According to Lange
(2009), sustainability can be reached reducing the consumption
of natural resources, waste, hazardous waste and costs, indicating
such four dimensions as “sustainability stresses” (p.587). The
author showed how Shell Company reached, in just a few decades,
the implementation of GC principles, reducing “sustainability
stresses”.
Another important aspect concerning environmental impacts is
represented by toxicity of chemicals. In this context, Coish et al.
(2016) defined the state-of-the-art of the molecular design and
focused on potential toxicity of different phases involved. The aim
was to suggest to chemistry scientists to use innovations on their
design protocols.
Lambin and Corpart (2018) presented the case study of French la
Roquette, a family-owned group in the sector of Food, Nutrition and
Health. The company is noted for its efforts made for introducing
sustainable measures in all its activities. The authors showed how
the company applied GC principles and targets, in accordance with
definitions made by United Nations.
Aydin and Badurdeen (2019) proposed a design approach for
sustainable products based on “multiple life cycle” and considering
end-of-life treatments. The validation of methodology is performed
through a case study.
Shahid and Mohammad (2013) studied the role that different
biopolymers have on antimicrobial development, analyzing
different technologies of green pretreatments and describing main
advantages.
Basing on a partnership developed among the Rowan University
and some pharmaceutical companies, Slater and Savelski (2011)
developed projects to promote the implementation of GC princi-
ples, through examples of successful application. In pharmaceutical
sector, Ott et al. (2014) argued that APIs need a redesign or, more in
general, a rethinking for processes involved. To this end, the au-
thors presented a holistic optimization for processes based on
product’s life cycle, demonstrating that the adopted methodology is
able to produce high environmental benefits. De Soete et al. (2013)
also analyzed APIs’ processes, but they focused on other aspects of
life cycle, i.e. packaging and distribution of products. In particular,
they discussed, through the analysis of a case study, how changing
the production way of batches can bring benefits to the environ-
ment, as reduction of waste and resource consumptions. Their
focus mainly was on making packaging for medical products more
sustainable through the application of GC principles. Packaging is a
particularly important topic, especially since waste, derived from
packaging, have started to represent a significant part of urban solid
waste and the cause of several environmental concerns.
Generally, materials for packaging are not biodegradable and
also difficult to recycle or reuse (Davis and Song, 2006). In this
context, Narayan and Balakrishnan (2006) discussed environ-
mental benefits to use biodegradable packaging in terms of landfill,
incineration, composting, recycling and possible reuses. In partic-
ular, the authors highlighted how sustainability, industrial ecology,
ecoefficiency and GC represent the new paradigms to guide the
development for the next generation of products and processes,
especially for plastics.
Arancon et al. (2013) showed a recent development in strategies
for the valorization of waste from chemicals, including its reuse as
fuels or in other applications. The authors also presented guidelines
for future GC implementation, basing on case studies where stra-
tegies for the valorization of waste have been successful applied.
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Journal of Cleaner Production 294 (2021) 126137
De Mello et al. (2017) developed a comparative analysis of the
environmental impacts for the production of biodiesel from soy oil,
evaluating the GC implementation and using different metrics to
assess sustainability. Results showed the advantages derived from
both approaches and they also developed a model to design
guidelines for future applications. Finally, Limleamthong et al.
(2016) proposed a new way to identify more eco-friendly chemi-
cal products.
Also in this cluster, a close relation between green chemistry
and circular economy is highlighted. According to Linder (2017), GC
should be considered within the circular economy model, arguing
that chemists have a key role in reaching a more sustainable future.
The author also gave some examples of excellence.
In this context, Nistic (2017) affirmed that circular economy and
GC principles are fully in accordance, sharing same environmental
purposes, i.e. waste reduction. The author showed, through a case
study, how organic waste can be reintroduced as raw material for
the production of chemicals or in value-added materials.
The third cluster contains 29 papers related to the imple-
mentation of GC principles on chemical processes, discussing
technical aspects. Articles focus on chemical processes employed in
industry or that are subject of study for scientific research.
The chemical synthesis represents one of the aspects most
studied by the scientific community with the aim to realize more
clean or “green” synthesis (Georgia des et al., 2015; Khoo et al.,
2015; Middelkoop et al., 2019; Pati, 2014; Simonetti et al., 2019;
Theingi et al., 2019). Another subject of study is the catalysis
(Adebajo, 2007; Walther, 2014), especially relative to polymers
widely used in industry. For this topic, Mohanty et al. (2002),
Tabone et al. (2010), Hong et al. (2017) and Capezza et al. (2019)
investigated the possibility to obtain recyclable bio-based
polymers.
GC principles can be also applied to solvents involved in
chemical processes. In this context, some authors (Hiltunen et al.,
2016; Lowe and Milbradt, 2011) proposed more sustainable mix-
tures for solvents.
With regards to materials, precious metals are the most widely
studied. In particular, studies focus on the possibility to recover
precious metals through green chemical processes and succes-
sively, in a circular economy perspective (Halli et al., 2018; Yang
et al., 2018), to reintroduce them for the manufacturing of new
products (Izatt et al., 2015; Cui et al., 2020).
As in the second cluster, the third cluster collects several studies
concerning the application of GC on the cement production. In
particular, some authors studied innovative and sustainable mix-
tures derived from industrial or agricultural waste (Debbarma et al.,
2020), the creation of eco-sustainable cements (Coppola et al.,
2018b) and an innovative cement realized with eco-friendly ma-
terials or through a more effective energetic use (Font et al., 2018).
In this context, Muwashee (2020) studied how it is possible to
obtain building materials, starting from cement-based materials.
For the food sector, Barba et al. (2015) focused on technologies
that are in line with GC principles and Romani et al. (2016) studied
on the implementation of GC to olive oil production at industrial
scale. Furthermore, Pathan and Ahmad (2016) demonstrated,
through an empirical study, that is possible to obtain high-
performance vegetable oil basing on organic-inorganic bio hybrid
materials, meeting the 12 GC principles.
For the pharmaceutical sector, Van Der Vorst et al. (2009) and
Wehrs et al. (2019) performed an important analysis to demon-
strate the benefic effect of GC application to achieve a more sus-
tainable production, as well as Lae et al. (2019) stated in their recent
work. Cespi et al. (2016), Mamat et al. (2014) and Molino et al.
(2019) studied the reduction of waste from pharmaceutical in-
dustry, using green processes.
C. Silvestri, L. Silvestri, A. Forcina et al.
7.2. Identification of most used keywords in selected papers
In this section, the most used keywords in selected papers have
been identified. More in detail, for each article, keywords used by
authors were identified and collected, through a criterion based on
a conceptual similarity (Merli et al., 2018). Furthermore, keywords
were grouped in categories. Among most used keywords, first five
are “Chemical components” (64) followed by Sustainability (46),
Industry (46), Green chemistry (39) e Environmental (29). The
“Sustainability” category includes keywords strictly related to it, as
“sustainability development”, “sustainable infrastructure” or “sus-
tainable bio-composites”, etc. On the other hand, “Green chemis-
try” contains keywords as “green chemicals” and “principles of
green chemistry”. The CE category ranked tenth, with a frequency
equal to 12. Such result shows how CE topic has become relevant in
academic research only in recent years, especially if it is discussed
in relation to GC (Table S2 in the supplementary file). The most
common family of keywords is “Chemical components” (64), fol-
lowed by “Sustainability” and “Industry” with 46 occurrences.
“Green Chemistry” is the fourth with 39 occurrences, followed by
“Environmental” (29). Finally, “Culture” e “Country” is the less
recurrent.
On the basis of results collected, a Pareto analysis were per-
formed to understand most important categories developed in
relation to GC, sustainability and CE.
Pareto analysis is a widely applied quality tool (Karanikas, 2016),
and it represents a simple and an effective statistical method for
ranking and classifying data in a decreasing order from the highest
frequency of occurrences to the lowest ones (Bajaj et al., 2016). The
total frequency is summed up to 100. More in detail, the Pareto
analysis is based on the 80/20 rule principle. The classification of
data is divided into two categories: the “vital few” items that
occupy a substantial amount (80 per cent) of cumulative percent-
age of occurrences, and the “useful many” items that occupy the
remaining 20 per cent of occurrences (Karuppusami and
Gandhinathan, 2006). The Pareto analysis has been developed as
a Quality Control tool for processes, although several authors used
such tool also in systematic literature reviews (Aquilani et al., 2017;
Bajaj et al., 2016; Karuppusami and Gandhinathan, 2006).
The purpose of the analysis is to figure out the most important
keyword families within this research context. For this reason,
keyword families that correspond to “research keywords” used in
this study (Section 4), were not considered. In fact, keyword fam-
ilies “Sustainability”, “Green chemistry” and “Industry” have been
the most common. For the sake of consistency, keyword families of
“Circular Economy” were removed a priori. Fig. 6 shows the results
Fig. 6. Pareto Analysis. Source: Authors’ elaboration.
13
Journal of Cleaner Production 294 (2021) 126137
of the Pareto analysis.
The graph in Fig. 6 represents keyword families in a descending
order. As it is possible to see, there is a clear pointer that overlays
the line graph at 80%. Such pointer separates 80% cumulative
percent, identifying the remaining 20% which represents less
significative keywords.
“Chemical components” represents the most important cate-
gory. In fact, “Chemical components” determine the sustainability
of a product and the possibility to reuse it in a circularity approach.
As expected, most of articles focused their attention to such
keyword. “Environmental” is the second keyword family in the
rank. Such result shows the strict relation between chemistry and
environment, and how, for several years, the sustainability concept
has been studied only in an environmental perspective by chem-
istry. This fact is also demonstrated by the third category “LCA”. In
fact, such approach is oriented to assess the environmental impact
of processes of products in a life cycle perspective. Then, LCA has a
key role for the rationale development of sustainable chemical
processes (i.e. Subramaniam et al., 2016). On the other hand, the
presence of the keyword “Hazard” demonstrates how chemistry is
approaching to social dimension of the sustainability concept,
becoming less dangerous for human health. Attention should be
also given to the keyword “Waste”, that is strongly related to CE
concept. Efforts in such context aim in designing chemical products
generated from organic waste (Campos et al., 2020) and in making
chemical products able to have a second life through different ap-
plications (Debbarma et al., 2020). Finally, the presence of the
keyword “Catalysis” in most important keyword families can be
explained considering the aim of this study. In fact the catalysis is
the branch of chemical industry and, as stated by Farrauto (2007),
“most products produced in the chemical and petroleum industries
utilize catalysts to enhance the rate of reaction and selectivity to
desired products” (pag. 271).
7.3. Research methodology used in selected studies
Articles based on a methodological research have been classified
distinguishing them in conceptual and empirical papers. Further-
more, an additional analysis was performed to distinguish articles
that belongs to the same macro group (Flick, 2014; Jaakkola, 2020;
MacInnis, 2011; Muijs, 2010). In particular, according to MacInnis
(2011), it is possible to define as conceptual articles all the aca-
demic articles that are based only on ideas and then without any
data. For the same author, conceptual papers also include analytical
articles based on mathematics, when ideas are expressed through
mathematical expression instead of words. Papers that are included
in this category are “conceptual framework”, “integrative model”
and “state-of the art reviews” (MacInnis, 2011, pag. 141). Studies
based on experiments or observations are considered as “Empir-
ical” papers. Empirical papers, in turn, are divided in those that
involve a “qualitative” (based on non-numerical data) and “quan-
titative” approach (based on numerical data analyzed statistically)
(Flick, 2014; Muijs, 2010). Fig. S2, in the supplementary file, sum-
marizes the model used for the purposes of this study.
Among the 95 articles collected, 70 are based on empirical ev-
idences and 25 are conceptual. In each year, conceptual studies are
always less numerous than empirical ones (Fig. 7). Most of the
empirical papers are qualitative (38 out of 70) and only 32 are
quantitative. The conceptual papers propose models (14 out of 25)
and reviews (7 out of 25). Fig. 8 shows the general classification of
articles.
Cases studies and experimental papers are the most common.
Several case studies were presented in articles included in
“Assessment and Practice” cluster. In fact, in this category, authors
propose suggestions and tools for the implementation of CG
C. Silvestri, L. Silvestri, A. Forcina et al.
Fig. 7. Temporal distribution of the papers: Conceptual vs Empirical. Source: Authors’
elaboration.
principles and methods to assess environmental performance of
their application, focusing on excellence cases. For example,
Lambin and Corpart (2018) presented the case of Roquette, that is
considered as the global leader in implementing activities based on
sustainable development. Several case studies were presented for
different industrial sectors, especially for the pharmaceutical sector
(Andraos and Andraos, 2018; Koenig et al., 2019; Rosenthal and
Lütz, 2018), followed by cement (Rodrigues and Joekes, 2011),
textile industry (Shahid and Mohammad, 2013) and paper industry
(Manley et al., 2008). Moreover, case studies were also discussed in
a CE context (Hong and Chen, 2017; Linder, 2017) and for high-
lighting the importance of the integration of LCA with both GC and
engineering principles in a perspective of sustainability and circu-
larity of production phases (Lankey and Anastas, 2002;
Subramaniam et al., 2016).
Experiments are instead the main tool used in articles that have
been included in “Technical” cluster. In fact, such studies involve
the GC application to realize sustainable chemical products or to
use organic waste to make chemicals with a sustainable perspective
(Campos et al., 2020; Hong and Chen, 2017; Pathan and Ahmad,
2016; Romani et al., 2016).
In this context, “Models” represent the most common
Fig. 8. Classification of the papers. Source: Authors’ elaboration.
14
Journal of Cleaner Production 294 (2021) 126137
intellectual tool. The “Strategy” cluster includes 14 articles on a
total of 24. Such studies propose new business models to incentive
GC principles implementation, in respect of the environmental
dimension, sustainability, and, above all, the economic dimension.
The most representative example is represented by the leasing
model discussed by Lozano et al. (2018) and Schwager et al. (2016).
The 10 remaining papers have been included in the “Assessment
and Practice” cluster, and they propose models able to evaluate
environmental performance of chemical processes (Calvo-flores,
2009; Sheldon, 2017) defining new criteria and methodology
(Tian et al., 2012; Zhang et al., 2005).
7.4. Identification of main industrial sectors
The value of GC is not always perceived because, generally, its
products do not have a direct use. In fact, such products are mainly
intermediate goods, that are used by other industries to produce
end products. However, chemistry interests all life aspects,
including nutrition, health, hygiene and mobility. Many evidences
demonstrate that chemical products are used in all economic ac-
tivities, such as agriculture (5,2%), services (12,7%) and family
consumptions (14,6%), with the largest proportion in industry
(67,5%) (Federchimica, 2019). Industrial sectors have been catego-
rized basing on the Report published by Federchimica (2019), that
identify nine industrial sectors mainly involving the chemistry.
Fig. 9 shows how pharmaceutical is the most studied sector (22),
in terms of GC applied to sustainability and CE. In fact, innovation is
a key element for the pharmaceutical sector, which aims to improve
health and quality of life of patients, as well as to pursue sustain-
ability. In 2017, Europe invested in this sector an estimation of V
35,200 million in R&D (EFPIA, 2018). Other sectors are Food (6) and
Buildings (6). These results confirm how chemistry is investing in
innovations oriented to sustainability, in particular when the same
chemistry involves industrial sectors like Food and Buildings
(Federchimica, 2019).
C. Silvestri, L. Silvestri, A. Forcina et al.
Fig. 9. Industrial sectors. Source: Authors’ elaboration.
Fig. 10. Number of papers per country of the first author. Source: Authors’ elaboration.
7.5. Geographical focus
The geographical origin of articles was obtained considering the
country of the first author (Fig. 10). The analysis shows that USA is
the country with the largest number of papers (24 papers, that
correspond to 26.7% of the total), followed by Italy and the UK (8
papers per country). However, if the analysis focuses on the au-
thors’ continent of origin, the scenario changes. Europe is the first
continent with 43 articles (45.3% of the total), followed by North
America with 26 papers (27.4%) and Asia with 16 papers (16.8%)
(Fig. 11).
Fig. 12 shows the temporal distribution of articles in relation to
the country of the first author. As it is possible to see, since 2002
Europe and USA are the countries that first investigated such topics.
In particular, during last years, when sustainability and CE began to
be relevant for the world of business. Asia started its research ac-
tivity with a slight delay, with only one article published in 2005,
however, since 2012, the number of publications starts to increase.
7.6. Sustainability
One of the aims of this study was to understand how CG is
approaching the global sustainability. For this reason, articles were
analyzed taking into consideration the TBL context. The structural
dimension and the sustainability category were identified basing
on the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (i.e. Jamali et al.,
2006; Knoepfel, 2001) and on SLR developed within the sustain-
ability context (Franciosi et al., 2020; Sassanelli et al., 2019; Ülgen
et al., 2019). Fig. 13 shows how the environmental dimension is
the most studied, with 44 articles in a total of 95. Such result shows
how the GC concept is mainly related to the environmental aspect
of sustainability, although sustainability takes into consideration
also social and economic dimensions.
Instead, articles that analyze simultaneously environmental and
economic dimensions are 24 in a total of 95. This is a particularly
relevant result, because it demonstrates how much the sustainable
15
Journal of Cleaner Production 294 (2021) 126137
Fig. 11. Continents of the first author. Source: Authors’ elaboration.
Fig. 12. Temporal distribution of papers considering different continents. Source:
Authors’ elaboration.
Fig. 13. The TBL dimensions. Notes: Env (environmental), Env Ec (Environmental and
economic), Env Ec Soc (Environmental, economic and social), Env Soc (Environmental
and social). Source: Authors’ elaboration.
development is strongly related to the economic dimension and,
therefore it should not be neglected or considered in conflict with
the environmental and social dimensions. In fact, the economic
development is essential for creating employment and having
economic resources that is possible to invest in environmental
protection.
A total of 20 articles out of 95 address sustainability considering
all the three dimensions, demonstrating how, along with business
models based on CE, also GC starts to involve the global sustain-
ability concept. Finally, 7 articles discuss economic and social as-
pects. GC and chemical companies begin to focus attention on
prevention and human health, not only for consumers and citizens,
but also for their employers.
Fig. 14 shows the temporal weight of TBL. As it is possible to see,
the environmental dimension has the greater importance among
collected articles. Fig. 16 also highlights two aspects: (1) the domain
of the environmental dimension, and (2) the larger growth of
environmental dimension in respect to other two dimensions. This
result can be explained through the strong attention that has been
paid from society to environmental topics, as well as the increasing
number of discussions on climate change and corporate scandals
C. Silvestri, L. Silvestri, A. Forcina et al.
Fig. 14. Temporal distribution of papers that involve (TBL). Source: Authors’
elaboration.
happening in the environmental area (Ülgen et al., 2019).
8. Discussion
The analysis that was carried out and the identification of
clusters allowed to appropriately answer the Research Questions in
a timely manner. The analysis of the first cluster allows us to answer
to the first three questions:
RQ1 e How are firms dealing with green chemistry issue?
RQ2 e What are the obstacles and the possible solutions
encountered by the industrial system?
RQ3 e How are governments and academic research addressing
the policymaking in GC?
The chemical sector demonstrated a positive attitude towards
achieving sustainability and the implementation of GC principles.
Furthermore, although the environmental issue is particularly
discussed by the chemical sector at global scale, several barriers still
slow down the new sustainable business model adoption. First of
all, the lack of politic programs aimed to support firms for the
implementation of green technologies. Governments could exert
social pressure on chemical firms and develop mandatory guide-
lines to promote green thinking within companies, through a
proper legislation.
According to Green (2016), governments could also provide
financial incentives to companies for the human capital formation.
Hence the importance to establish a partnership with academic
institutions, which would have the hard task of training engineers,
scientists and future leaders with experience in sustainability and
the ability for successfully implementing GC principles. The
“chemical leasing” is today a good way to establish a productive
collaboration, but more should be done. The cooperation among
governments, industry and academic institutions appears to be the
key aspect for addressing the issue of the creation of a sustainable
society, where innovative technology and the green thinking can
face such huge global challenge (Kirchhoff, 2005).
According to Matus et al. (2012), the GC gives innovative an-
swers for understanding how to implement the scientific knowl-
edge in complex scientific problems. In other words, GC, together
with GE, allows “to use scientific knowledge to reconcile a very real
need for chemical production and use with the desire to reduce the
hazards e global, physical, and toxicological e associated with these
activities” (Matus et al., 2012, p. 193). For this reason, GC is bound to
establish a close collaboration with governments.
The realization of sustainable chemical substances demands
several investments in terms of human and economic resources.
For such reason, it is necessary a synergy among academic in-
stitutions (science), industry (realization of products/services) and
governments. The latter should promote politics oriented (1) to
economically support the most virtuous companies or those that
16
Journal of Cleaner Production 294 (2021) 126137
are concretely oriented to approaches for sustainability and CE; (2)
to sensitize citizens to these topics, and (3) to design training ac-
tivities related to GC. In particular, citizens, through their choices in
terms of consumption and lifestyle, are able to carry out a social
pressure for both politics and companies.
The synergy between science and enterprises is fundamental to
help the transition from an innovative solution, that has been
developed in laboratories, to the actual implementation in chemi-
cal sector.
If GC is implemented in an efficient way, it allows to overcome
conflicts between the economic growth and environmental bene-
fits (Matus et al., 2012). Governments and enterprises should
establish this awareness through a complex process of cultural
exchange, that is, at the same time, stimulating and necessary.
According to Albayati and Arrak (2019), “sustainability is very
important in this world at this time” (p. 2727).
As stated by Giraud et al. (2014), “Together, we can accomplish
what no single company can do alone” (p.2241).
Finally, Table 5 summarizes methodologies and interdisciplinary
approaches observed in papers that address research questions
RQ1, RQ2 and RQ3. In particular, Table 7 highlights how GC topic
can be referred to different contexts and analyzed through multiple
approaches.
8.1. RQ4 e what are the recommended practices for the
implementation of GC by academics and practitioners?
As might be expected, tools and practices play a fundamental
role for enabling a proper GC implementation. As stated by the
economist Drucker (2005), to manage and improve a system, it
should be possible to measure it. Such concept can be also applied
to chemistry.
The “green metrics” is a widely debated topic, as proven by the
number of articles presented in this section. The topic is continu-
ously subject to changes and improvements (Calvo-Flores, 2009),
however there is a common opinion that an all-inclusive method
for assessing the real sustainability of a chemical reaction or pro-
cess does not still exist (Gonzalez, and Smith, 2003).
On the other hand, several authors agreed with the idea that GC
principles have to be combined with GE and products that have
been studied from the point of view of the whole life cycle (Lankey
and Anastas, 2002). LCA appears as one of the most analyzed
methodology, for both theoretical and empirical studies. Indeed,
according to Lankey and Anastas (2002), LCA helps to clearly define
advantages related to environment, as well as the economic ben-
efits derived from the implementation of technologies related to GC
and CE. Measurement indices also appear relevant. In this context,
in 2014, Ruiz-Mercado et al. (2014) introduces a new methodo-
logical approach, proposing a simultaneous implementation of two
methodologies: (1) GREENSCOPE and (2) LCA. This approach allows
the design sustainable chemical processes with an overall positive
impact. Furthermore, the authors highlighted how for the devel-
opment of systems that are both sustainable and CE-oriented, a
greater integration of tools is demanded. This integration can lead
to a change for the industrial perspective toward a systemic
approach.
Through this SLR, it was possible to find that several authors are
in agreement in combining the use of LCA with other tools, such as
metrics.
Practical studies showed several case studies where GC princi-
ples have been implemented in a successful manner.
One of the main purposes of articles was to promote GC para-
digms, showing the benefic effects for the environment and pre-
senting efficacy of methodologies and guidelines.
Finally, also in this cluster, the close relation between GC and CE
C. Silvestri, L. Silvestri, A. Forcina et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 294 (2021) 126137

emerged. Chemistry is generally applied to each industrial process
and then its application has to be rethought in a way that both
sustainability and a CE perspective are taken into account.
Furthermore, GC and CE share same environmental purposes,
including the benefits for society and human health.
The great challenge of the 21st century for the chemical industry
is the transition towards green and sustainable manufacturing
processes, through a more efficient use of raw materials, reducing
waste and avoiding the use of hazardous and toxic substances
(Sheldon, 2016). The union of paradigms allows to achieve the
common purpose.
Finally, Table 6 summarizes methodologies and interdisciplinary
approaches observed in papers that address research questions
RQ4.
8.2. RQ5 e which are the comprehensive studies that show
experimental applications of GC to industrial processes?
In the third cluster, collected articles are focused on technical
aspects related to chemical processes that have been designed for
industrial purposes. Such experimental applications have been
designed for pharmaceutical, food and cement sector. The analysis
of the database also showed that the three clusters are focused on
the same industrial sectors.
What emerges from studies is that there is a growing interest to
sustainability and GC is widely considered as the main tool to
achieve it. The analysis of papers shows how the use of waste
represents a relevant topic for GC implementation. This demon-
strates how GC is getting closer to CE, which aims to be a closed
system and then without waste generation. Table 7 lists main ar-
ticles that address the research question RQ5 and, in particular,
articles where authors applied GC focusing on waste management.
8.3. RQ6 e what is the relation between GC and the TBL
framework?
The analysis of papers shows that chemical industry is able to
contribute to a fair transition towards a greater economic, envi-
ronmental and social sustainability. The main focus of GC is the
environment, since it is part of GC purposes for preventing waste
generation and assessing environmental impacts of products and
processes (Lozano et al., 2014a).
According to Manley et al. (2008), GC is “an innovative, non-
regulatory, economically driven approach towards sustainability”
(p. 743) and defined as “the design, development, and imple-
mentation of chemical products and processes to reduce or elimi-
nate the use and generation of substances hazardous to human
health and the environment” (p.743). Furthermore, Loste et al.
(2019) stated that such approach focuses on reduction of risks
associated to products directly at their source. Therefore, it is
possible to deduce that the relationship between GC and sustain-
ability is particularly strong and many factors should be involved to
address the challenge of a more sustainable development on a
global scale. Kirchhoff (2005) asserted that “green chemistry is an
important tool in achieving sustainability” (p.237).
This SLR also shows that, among TBL pillars (environment, social
and economic), GC is strictly connected to the environmental
dimension. However, although GC is born with environmental
purposes, industrial chemistry faces several global challenges,
including environmental and economic issues (job creation and
business survival), and social (safety and health protection of citi-
zens, workers and consumers). In other words, chemical industry

Table 6
Articles related to RQ4.

RQ4 - What are the main tools or practices that academics and practitioners recommend for the implementation of green chemistry?

Authors Methodology Approach Interdisciplinary Approach Applications

Lankey and Anastas LCA GC And GE Technologies Process Catalysis

(2002)
Gonzalez et al. (2003) GREENSCOPE LCA and GE Principles Process Synthesis
Zhang et al. (2005) GC Principles Process System Engineering Process Synthesis And Design
Curzons et al. (2007) Fast Life Cycle Assessment Engineering Process Synthesis
(FLCA)
Van Der Vorst et al. (2009) LCA Exergetic Life Cycle Assessment (Elca) Preparative Chromatographic
Separation Processes
Tabone et al. (2010) LCA GC and GE Technologies Green Design
Tian et al. (2012) Multi-Criteria Decision EG Process Synthesis
Analysis Method
De Soete et al. (2013) LCA Exergy Analysis (Ea) And Exergetic Life Cycle Analysis (Elca) Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient
Hunt et al. (2014) LCA Engineering Phytoextraction
Jimenez-gonza lez and LCA Life Cycle Inventory, Life Cycle Impact Assessment Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient
Overcash (2014) (Api)
Ott et al. (2014) LCA GC And GE Technologies Process Catalysis
Ruiz-Mercado et al. LCA Greenscope Synthesis And Design Of Chemical
(2014) Processes
Cespi et al. (2016a) LCA GC and GE Principles Production From Biomass
Coish et al. (2016) LCA Interdisciplinary Approach (Systems Thinking): Synthetic Chemistry, Synthetic Chemicals And
Toxicology, Biology, Pharmacology, And Ecology. Molecular Design
Limleamthong et al. LCA Data Envelopment Analysis (Dea) Screening Of Solvents For Co2
(2016) Capture
Subramaniam et al. LCA GC and GE Technologies Process Catalysis
(2016)
García-Bustamante et al. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Chemical Processes
(2018)
Sheldon (2018) E Factors And Atom CG and EG Process Catalysis
Economy
Rosenthal and Lütz (2018) LCA Environmental Factor (E Factor) Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient
Fadel, C., Tarabieh (2019) LCA Industrial Environmental Index Solvent-Based Processes

Source: Authors’ elaborations

17
C. Silvestri, L. Silvestri, A. Forcina et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 294 (2021) 126137

Table 7
Articles that address the research question RQ5.

RQ5 e Are there any comprehensive studies that show experimental applications of GC to industrial processes?

Authors Methodology approach Industrial sector of applications Waste used

Mohanty et al. (2002) Experiment Rubber-Plastic Agricultural and biomass feedstock

Lowe and Milbradt (2011) Experiment Crop Protection Industry Organic waste
Barba et al. (2015) Experiment Food Microalgae
Mamat et al. (2014) Experiment Industrial sector in general Agricultural
Walther (2014) Experiment Chemical industry Renewables
Georgiades et al. (2015) Experiment Chemical industry No, but the aim is to generate minimal waste.
Izatt et al. (2015) Experiment Metallurgy No, but the aim is to generate minimal waste.
Cespi et al. (2016b) Experiment Industrial sector in general Epichlorohydrin industry
Pathan and Ahmad (2016) Experiment Industrial sector in general Bio-based hybrid nanocomposite coatings
Romani et al. (2016) Experiment Food Agricultural
Hong and Chen (2017) Experiment Chemical industry Polymers
Coppola et al. (2018a) Experiment Buildings Mortar and concrete
Font et al. (2018) Experiment Buildings Agricultural
Halli et al. (2018) Experiment Metallurgy Metal
Yang et al. (2018) Experiment Metallurgy Metal
Capezza et al. (2019) Experiment Pharmaceutics Agricultural
Molino et al. (2019) Experiment Food Agricultural
Campos et al. (2020) Experiment Food Agricultural
Cui et al. (2020) Experiment Chemical industry Liquid crystal displays
Debbarma et al. (2020) Experiment Buildings Industrial and agricultural

Source: Authors’ elaborations

should redesign their business models, policies, processes and
products, following an approach oriented to sustainability, CE and
all the three TBL pillars. SC represents the proper system able to
apply such approach, containing in its interior the application of GC
principles. In other words, SC ensures a safer use of chemistry for
citizens, consumers and workers, as well as environmental-friendly
solutions. Referring to the concept of the three TBL perspectives, GC
is able to generate benefits “to human health (cleaner air, water,
safer food, and goods), the environment (less consumption of
feedstocks and energy, reduction of pollution or of ecotoxicity), and
business (better performance, reduction of raw materials,
improving competitiveness)” (Loste et al., 2019 p.785).
All the 95 papers were analyzed and classified to understand
how GC is approaching Sustainability and CE in a TBL perspective.
In particular, Fig. 15 shows the number of papers that involve the
three TBL pillars for each of the three clusters, allowing to better
understand the GC evolution towards global sustainability.
As shown in Fig. 15, the environmental topic is the most debated
and each of the study considers and analyzes environmental
aspects.
As mentioned before, the relationship between GC and sus-
tainability is relevant. The reason can be found in the beneficial
effects derived from the implementation of GC principles, including
the reduction or the elimination of waste, hazardous materials and
the use of renewable materials (Hjeresen et al., 2002). What
emerges from the analysis of articles is that the concept of sus-
tainability is implicit on GC.
The economic aspects were widely debated in 40 articles. This
result demonstrates how firms are abandoning the so-called
“enduring myth” (Hjeresen et al., 2002), according to which it is
not possible to reach environmental benefits without a reduction in
profit. Indeed, companies that implemented GC principles gener-
ally increased their profit, through the reduction of waste and the
recovery of resources (Hjeresen et al., 2002; Loste et al., 2019).
Furthermore, technological innovations can support companies to
reach both economic and environmental goals (Freire, 2018;
Hjeresen et al., 2002).
The social is the less studied dimension, with only 27 articles.
This fact is also in accordance with some results found in literature.
In fact, some authors (Agthe et al., 1978; Bo €schen et al., 2003);

Fig. 15. TBL pillars in the selected clusters. Source: Authors’ elaboration.

18
C. Silvestri, L. Silvestri, A. Forcina et al.
Fig. 16. Framework. Source: Authors’ elaboration. Notes: CE can be considerate as a
macrosystem able to generate economic, social and environmental value (TBL pillars)
and to reuse materials without any waste generation. In such macrosystem, the sub-
system SC, thanks to GC principles, takes part in production phases and reuse of
materials. In fact, GC is the main tool of the sustainable chemistry, and the increasing
orientation towards TBL pillars is facilitating its integration with CE macrosystem.
highlighted that GC studies concerning social aspects are not yet
adequately debated, being GC mainly focused on environmental
protection (Lozano, 2012; Lozano et al., 2014b).
The cluster in which social aspects are most debated is the
“Strategy” cluster, with 15 articles on a total of 23 papers. This result
shows that also GC is directing its attention towards social aspects.
A more in-depth analysis shows that the three TBL dimensions
are mainly studied by “conceptual” articles. They generally propose
models and frameworks, analyzing the sustainability concept in its
completeness.
Green (2016) highlighted that GC can have beneficial effects not
only for environment, but also for pursuing business objectives and
realize useful products. The author asserted that the model can help
research and chemical production to preserve the environment and
human health. However, according to Green (2016) and Schwager
et al. (2016), it is necessary to improve the knowledge about GC.
Furthermore, in order to explore the potential of GC, they devel-
oped innovative business models able to involve all the actors,
including industry.
Matus et al. (2012) affirmed that GC principles allow to improve
the life quality, protecting the environment and the human health.
The possibility to achieve a global sustainability is also
addressed by articles containing empirical studies. For example,
Lange (2009) stated that the possibility to reach a more sustainable
development is gaining even more importance, involving envi-
ronmental, economic and social aspects. The author demonstrated,
through a case study, how the application of GC principles allows to
reach the three TBL dimensions.
The analysis of articles also highlighted the close relationship
between sustainability and the circular economy concept. Accord-
ing to Linder (2017) chemistry and, in particular, GC can represent
the main driver for the circular economy. In fact, the authors stated
that chemistry has the key role to lead society towards a sustain-
able future, embracing all the three TBL dimensions.
Sheldon (2017) showed that both sustainable production and
19
Journal of Cleaner Production 294 (2021) 126137
circular economic perspective can be reached through a chemical
production based on biological raw materials, as well as reducing
waste and through a more effective energetic use. The close rela-
tionship between GC and circular economy is very significant,
because it shows how an approach based on the three TBL di-
mensions can lead to an easier achievement of objectives. In fact,
sustainability and circular economy concepts generally share some
concerns, such as the attention for the current consumptions that
can affect the wellbeing of future generations (Geissdoerfer et al.,
2017), as well as the necessity to have greener technologies. Ac-
cording to Kirchhoff (2005), GC offers tools to find solutions to
these global challenges.
Moreover, the chemical sector supports most of the industries.
For this reason, it should respond to relevant challenges related to
the topic of the sustainability and CE. According to Clark (2007),
before addressing key issues such as the transition towards
renewable resources, the avoiding of hazardous and polluting
processes and the design of eco-compatible and safety products, it
should develop “chemical sustainable products” and “green” sup-
ply chains. The use of renewable biological resources, as source of
precious chemical substances, represents a fundamental starting
point, as well as a common practice in many countries of the world
(Ciriminna et al., 2020). A bioeconomy can contribute to a sus-
tainable and favorable future. For achieving the well-defined bio-
economy purposes, several obstacles should be overcame and the
same GC, through its principles, is trying to do it (Fitzgerald, 2017).
On the base of previous considerations, it is possible to consider
CE as a macrosystem able to generate economic, social and envi-
ronmental values (TBL pillars) and to reuse materials without any
waste generation. In such macrosystem, the sub-system SC, thanks
to GC principles, takes part in production phases and in reuse of
materials. In fact, GC is the main tool of the sustainable chemistry,
and the increasing orientation towards TBL pillars is facilitating its
integration with the CE macrosystem (Fig. 16).
Then, this study suggests that GC, embracing the TBL perspec-
tive, facilitates the transition towards sustainability and CE. How-
ever, the conditio sine qua non corresponds in a significant change
in consideration of environmental, economic and social issues, that
should be perceived as codified in a regulatory framework and
managed by private companies.
According to Matus et al. (2012), the GC application allows to
simultaneously answer to several challenges related to sustain-
ability and CE.
However, in order to make this possible, it is necessary a politic
able to support the integration among tools and subsystems in a
holistic way.
The framework in Fig. 16 aims to understand such systemic
vision. Governments, research, enterprises, citizens and consumers
are the key players of this framework. Each of them, in different
ways, could contribute to reach the idea of sustainability and CE.
The conditio sine qua non is the achievement of a radical cultural
change for addressing global challenges and aimed to a unique
objective, that is the social well-being of all individuals.
9. Limitations and future research
The main aim of this work was to investigate how much the
“chemical philosophy” (Voigt et al., 2013, p. 149) has been under-
stood and shared by both science and industry. The focus was on
the GC implementation in industry in a perspective of sustainability
and CE, giving an overview on how the existing literature addressed
the relations among GC, sustainability and CE. Results highlighted
how GC represents the main tool for realizing principles and con-
cepts of SC and, more in general, of Sustainability and CE. It was
possible to highlight the growing involvement of GC for the
C. Silvestri, L. Silvestri, A. Forcina et al.
application of the three TBL pillars. In fact, GC is no longer oriented
only to reach environmental sustainability, but also to social and
economic dimensions, and then following a systemic approach.
However, although the scientific approach that was used for
reaching the purposes of this research, the article presents some
limitations. As first, although a transparent approach acknowl-
edged from literature, the article can be limited by some subjec-
tivity in the categorization of information. To limit this aspect, the
definition of structural dimensions and analytic categories was
structured as suggested by existing literature. In particular, studies
related to sustainability and CE topics were taken into
consideration.
Another limitation is represented by the typology of documents
included in the database that consists exclusively in scientific pa-
pers, without considering the so-called “grey literature” or non-
academic literature (Geissdoerfer et al., 2017; Merli et al., 2018).
Indeed, it appears clear how non-academic literature has a funda-
mental role in giving GC implementation practices, especially in
industrial sector. Royal Society of Chemistry (https://www.rsc.org/)
and ACS Chemistry for Life (https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en.
html) represent the main communities that contribute to scienti-
fic publications on GC issues, but they deal only in making reports
the synthetize strategies, activities and relative impacts. More in
detail, their purpose is twofold: (1) to connect people with chem-
ical science through knowledge, skills and community concepts,
and (2) to make chemical enterprise to grow toward a more sus-
tainable approach, improving the life of people.
The specific research criteria used in this work represent a
further limitation. Indeed, the study focus on GC topic, neglecting
the relevant topic of the GE, that is described in the Introduction
section. Indeed, in this first phase of the study, the attention of
authors was focused on chemistry. However, both concepts are
closed to each other, and this may results in loss of information, in
particular in terms of industrial applications.
These limitations can help to improve and encourage the future
research on this topic. As first, it is possible to extent the research to
the “grey literature”, as well as to include GE within research
keywords. This analysis could also allow to better investigate the
relations among concepts described here and the analysis of case
studies, as well as to study relations with CE.
Finally, the review showed that the social impact of such topics
has gained a growing interest within the scientific community
during last years. It should be interesting to investigate how GC, SC,
Sustainability and CE affect the social well-being.
10. Conclusions
Chemistry, considered in terms of science and industry, has a
crucial role in finding technological solutions to global changes,
such as the climate change and the degradation of natural re-
sources. In particular, chemistry continuously investigates new
roads to realize the largest number of products in an ever more
efficient way, reducing waste and protecting human health and
environment. In fact, GC, being getting closer to TBL pillars, repre-
sents the main tool for the chemical industry in implementing the
SC system and then realizing the transition towards sustainability
and CE.
In the present study, a systematic literature review of the state-
of-the-art of research concerning green chemistry, circular econ-
omy and global sustainability was conducted. 95 papers were
examined, published between 2002 and April 15, 2020.
The analysis made it possible to answer the six proposed
research questions, concerning the role of companies and in-
stitutions in the development of green chemistry, as well as find
main limitations, application tools and impacts on society.
20
Journal of Cleaner Production 294 (2021) 126137
In this regard, it is possible to affirm that companies have a good
aptitude in developing green chemical applications, although the
main limitation is represented by the lack of politic programs
aimed at supporting firms for the implementation of green tech-
nologies. Finally, the results of the analysis showed that almost all
researches are focused on environmental impacts deriving from
green chemistry applications, while 44% are focused on economic
impacts and only 25% on social impacts.
This study, from a theoretical point of view, aims to identify a
comprehensive framework to explain how GC, sustainability and CE
are interconnected, and how GC is assuming a central role to reach
sustainability during last years. In fact, GC is no longer oriented only
to reach environmental sustainability, but also to social and eco-
nomic dimensions, and then following a systemic approach. In view
of this consideration, it is important to invest more in research to
encourage the development of new processes or chemical syn-
thesis, in addition to existing ones. Research should be conducted in
an academic context, facilitating the subsequent use in industrial
applications (Manley et al., 2008).
The relation between academic research and chemical industry
is strong, being highly interested in transformations and properties
of substances. On the other hand, chemical research, that it
developed within an industrial context, transforms academic
research results in new technology and products, improving the
well-being and quality of life (Federchimica, 2019).
Following this approach, this study also helps enterprise man-
agement to reach a cultural change towards sustainability and CE.
Furthermore, it demonstrates how GC implementation allows to
reach both economic and environmental sustainability, that are
fundamental aspects for the growth of firms. Results let the authors
to encourage firms in considering the possibility to generate both
profits and environment protection.
Being the chemical industry upstream in supply chains, it has
more opportunities than other industrial sectors to take part in a
wide range of industrial processes, thanks also to its technological
advances.
A stricter interaction among firms should be realized, promoting
business models such as the chemical leasing, that allows to use
chemical products in a more efficient way, as well as the waste
reduction. In fact, firms that work together can realize more than
what they can do individually. Furthermore, a stricter interaction
between firms and academic research is demanded. In fact, sus-
tainability is a topic that concerns everyone, because several ac-
tions are needed to reach the sustainability. Today, GC frontiers
represent a global challenge for management and research, as well
as an incentive towards more sustainable processes and products.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Cecilia Silvestri: Conceived and designed the analysis, Collected
the data, Contributed data or analysis tools, Performed the analysis,
Wrote the paper. Luca Silvestri: Conceived and designed the
analysis, Collected the data, Contributed data or analysis tools,
Performed the analysis. Wrote the paper. Antonio Forcina:
Conceived and designed the analysis, Collected the data, Contrib-
uted data or analysis tools, Performed the analysis. Gianpaolo Di
Bona: Conceived and designed the analysis, Collected the data,
Contributed data or analysis tools, Performed the analysis. Dome-
nico Falcone: Conceived and designed the analysis, Collected the
data, Contributed data or analysis tools, Performed the analysis.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing
financial interests or personal relationships that could have
C. Silvestri, L. Silvestri, A. Forcina et al.
appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126137.
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