Green chemistry is concerned with the efficient use of (preferably renewable) resources in conjunction with the elimination of waste and avoidance of the use of toxic and/or hazardous reagents and solvents in the manufacture and application of chemical products [1] and [2]. Sustainable development, on the other hand, is defined as development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the needs of future generations to meet their own needs [3]. Sustainability consists of three components: societal, ecological and economic, otherwise referred to as the three Ps, people, planet and profit. Hence, in contrast to green chemistry, sustainability comprises an economic component. As Graedel has pointed out [4], in order for a technology to be sustainable the following conditions must be fulfilled: (i) natural resources should be used at rates that do not unacceptably deplete supplies over the long term and (ii) residues should be generated at rates no higher than can be assimilated readily by the natural environment. It is abundantly clear, for example, that a society based on non-renewable fossil.
The author dedicates this manuscript to Prof. Ulf Schuchardt, a pioneer in the application of catalysis in biorefining, on the occasion of his 70th birthday.