GREEN CHEMISTRY

BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY

To - Dr. Mahesh Vasava Sir

By - Puneet Kumar
ENR-012300600027002001
 Introduction to GREEN CHEMISTRY
• Green Chemistry, also known as environmentally benign Chemistry or Sustainable
Chemistry, is an area of chemistry and chemical engineering focused on the design of
products and processes that minimize or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous
substances.
• Green Chemistry looks at pollution prevention on the molecular scale and is an
extremely important area of Chemistry due to the importance of Chemistry in our
world today and the implications it can show on our environment.
• Paul Anastas and John Warner, who defined green chemistry, formulated the twelve
principles of green chemistry in 1998. These serve as guidelines for chemists seeking to
lower the ecological footprint of the chemicals they produce and the processes by which
such chemicals are made.
 12 PRICIPLES OF GREEN CHEMISTRY
1. Prevention of Waste or by- products.
2. Atom Economy = Mol. Weight of desired product X 100
Mol. Weight of all reactants
3. Minimization of hazardous products.
4. Designing Safer Chemicals.
5. Safer Solvents & Auxiliaries.
6. Design for Energy Efficiency.
7. Use of Renewable Feedstock
8. Reduce Derivatives
 9. Catalysis
10. Designing of degradable products
11. New Analytical Methods
12. Safer Chemicals for Accident Prevention

"It is better to prevent waste than to treat or clean up waste after it is formed."

When the aforementioned principles are not followed while undertaking a huge chemical production or process, it
can lead to hazardous and tragic chemical failures and accidents whose side effects are irreversible over the lives
of masses, and that too for ages. One such tragic event or disaster is the BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY. Negligence
and use of highly dangerous chemicals and pesticides, in contrast to the principles of green chemistry, led to this
catastrophic incident which resulted in the casualty of a large number of people as well as animals in that region.
 "WHAT IS BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY ?"
The Bhopal gas tragedy (commonly referred to as Bhopal disaster) was a gas
leak incident in India, considered one of the world's worst industrial
catastrophes.

It occurred on the night of 2nd-3rd December 1984 at the Union Carbide India
Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.

A leak of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other chemicals from the plant
resulted in the exposure of hundreds of thousands of people.
 PLANTE PRODUCTION PROCESS
The UCIL factory was built to
produce the pesticide Sevin (UCC's
brand name for carbaryl) using
methyl isocyanate (MIC) as an
intermediate.

Methylamine (1) reacts with phosgene (2) to produce methyl isocyanate (3), which
in turn reacts with 1-naphthol (4) to yield carbaryl (5).
 THE ACCIDENT
• During the night of 2-3 December 1984, water
entered Tank E610 containing 42 tons of MIC.
• The resulting exothermic reaction increased the
temperature inside tank to over 200°C (392 °F)
and raised the pressure.
• About 30 metric tons of methyl isocyanate (MIC)
escaped from the tank into the atmosphere which
got added to a weak wind which frequently
changed direction, which in turn helped the gas to
cover more area of Bhopal in 45 to 60 minutes.

Credit : NDTV news

 FACTORS LEADING TO THE GAS LEAK
• Storing MIC in large tanks and filling beyond recommended levels,
• Poor maintenance,
• Failure of several safety systems,
• Safety systems being switched off to save money-including the MIC tank refrigeration
system which could have mitigated the disaster severity,
• Plant location close to a densely populated area,
• Undersized safety devices,
• The dependence on manual operations,
• Plant management deficiencies were also identified -
+ lack of skilled operators,
+ reduction of safety management,
+insufficient maintenance,
+inadequate emergency action plans.
• Use of a more dangerous pesticide manufacturing method, or "ROUTE",

where same raw materials are combined in a different manufacturing order,

with phosgene first reacted with naphthol to form a chloroformate ester,

which is then reacted with methyl amine.
• In the early 1980s, the demand for pesticides had fallen, but production

continued, leading to buildup of stores of unused MIC.

 OTHER CAUSES
• Use of more dangerous pesticide
manufacturing method for decreasing
the generation cost.
• Plant located very close to a densely
populated area.
• Lack of skilled operators.
• Reduction of safety management.
CONTRIBUTION TO NEGLIGENCE
• UCIL didn't maintained safety
rules........A pipe leaked? Don't
replace it.
• MIC workers needed more training.
They could do with less.
• The flare tower and the vent gas
scrubber had been out of service for
five months before the disaster.
• The steam boiler, intended to clean
the pipes, was out of action for
unknown reasons.
 The devastation
• The official immediate death toll was 2,259 and the government of Madhya Pradesh has
confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release.

• Others estimate 8,000 died within two weeks and another 8,000 or more have since died
from gas related diseases.

• A government affidavit in 2006 stated the leak caused 5,58,125 injuries including 38,478
temporary partial and approximately 3,900 severely and permanently disabling injuries.
2,000 bloated animal carcasses had to be disposed.
 HEALTH EFFECTS
SHORT TERM HEALTH EFFECTS LONG TERM HEALTH EFFECTS
• Apart from MIC, the dense gas cloud may have contained phosgene, It is estimated 100,000 to 200,000 people have
hydrogen cyanide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen chloride, oxides of permanent injuries.
nitrogen, monomethyl amine (MMA) and carbon dioxide, either
produced in the storage tank or in the atmosphere.The initial effects
Reported symptoms are
of exposure were coughing, vomiting, severe eye irritation and a
feeling of suffocation. + eye problems,
• The acute symptoms were burning in the respiratory tract and eyes, +respiratory difficulties,
blepharospasm, breathlessness, stomach pains and vomiting. Causes +immune and neurological disorders,
of deaths were choking, reflexogenic circulatory collapse and +cardiac failure secondary to lung injury,
pulmonary oedema.
+female reproductive difficulties and birth defects
• Findings during autopsies revealed changes not only in the lungs but
among children born to affected women.
also cerebral oedema, tubular necrosis of the kidneys, fatty
degeneration of the liver and necrotising enteritis. The stillbirth rate
increased by up to 300% and neonatal mortality rate by 200%. The Indian Government and UCC deny permanent
injuries were caused by MIC or the other gases.
 WHAT COULD HAD BEEN DONE TO
AVOID THE DISASTER
• Supervisor could have been placed on night shifts and the readings and feedback of the
Equipment could have been taken for every one hour.
• There should have been 4 stage back up system (union carbide plant of USA) instead of a
one manual back up system.
• At regular intervals proper maintenance and servicing of Flare towers, pressure valves, gas
scrubbers must have be made.
• Strict regulations and methods must have been used according to the manual.
• Proper pressure gauges should have been used.
Other measures for further preventions that Green Chemistry suggests:
Isolating the toxin
• Be sure to store MIC in smaller quantities to prevent large scale disasters.
• Mic can only be stored in stainless steel or glass storage containers.
• When storing MIC, avoid contact with water, acids, metals (tin and copper), nitrates and peroxides.
• Reassure that the containers are grounded (to prevent any kind of spark) and stored in ventilated area with no heat or sunlight.
• Store at Low Temperatures- Temperatures for storage should not reach 40° C.
Containing the Disaster should it happen
• Vent-gas scrubbers are used air pollution control
• It simply pulls the gaseous toxin/pollutant into a cylinder where a mist of solution is sprayed to collect the pollutants and pull to
the ground, while clean air sent out.
• Water Cannons- Similar effect as a gas scrubber in the sense that creating a mist could absorb pollutants in an area.
 CONCLUSION
Chemistry is undeniably a very prominent part of our daily lives. But, chemical developments also
bring new environmental problems and harmful unexpected side effects, which result in the need
for 'greener' chemical products. From the example of Bhopal gas tragedy, it is evident that not
following basic safety procedures cost the lives of thousands. Over 35 years has passed, and the
toxicity of the MIC gas continues to harm survivors and the next generation.
Green Chemistry is at the frontiers of this continuously-evolving interdisciplinary science and
publishes research that attempts to reduce the environmental impact of the chemical enterprise by
developing a technology base that is inherently non-toxic to living things and the environment. A
famous example is the pesticide DDT. Hence, invention and production must go on but along with
safety measures following the basics of green chemistry and not at the cost of several lifes.
Any Questions 😊