The Role of AI in Driving the Sustainability of the Chemical Industry

Sustainability is here to stay. As businesses migrate away from fossil fuels and toward renewable sources, chemistry will play a crucial role in bringing the economy to a point of net-zero emissions. In fact, chemistry has always been at the forefront of developing new or enhanced materials to fulfill societal demands, resulting in goods with appropriate physical or chemical qualities. Today, the main focus is on developing goods and materials that have a less negative impact on the environment, which may include (but is not limited to) leaving behind smaller carbon footprints. Integrating data and AI can speed up the discovery of new eco-friendly materials, predict environmental impact factors for early assessment of new technological integration, enhance plant design and management, and optimize processes to reduce costs and improve efficiency, all of which contribute to a more rapid transition to a sustainable system. In this perspective, we hint at how AI technologies have been employed so far first, at estimating sustainability metrics and second, at designing more sustainable chemical processes.