ChemSelect supports the selection of more sustainable chemicals for processes and products
What can ChemSelect do?
Evaluation: How sustainable are the chemicals we use?
Substitution: Which alternatives are the most sustainable if we no longer want to use certain substances in mixtures?
Communication: We want to inform our customers about the sustainability of product alternatives!
ChemSelect can provide quick and easy answers to these and other questions - create sustainability profiles or sustainability comparisons of your chemicals in just a few steps.
The meaning of the
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Does the assessment of a substance or mixture result in lower sustainability (many "red assessments")? Then you can use the additional criterion "potential for substitution" to estimate whether it is likely that you will easily/quickly find alternatives to the substance/mixture.
In order to obtain a comprehensive sustainability profile, you should work on all aspects 1-9 if possible.
Each main criterion is shown in the assessment matrix with its sub-criteria if necessary. For the criterion of exposure potential, there is one main criterion each for the potential of users, consumers and the environment.
- Is a substance mentioned on a (substance) list (e.g. list of POPs) that lists substances with particularly problematic properties?
- Does a substance / mixture have an H-statement indicating the presence of physico-chemical hazards?
- Does a substance / mixture have a toxic effect on human health?
- Does a substance / mixture have a harmful effect on the environment?
- Are there particularly high levels of exposure to humans (workers and consumers) or the environment during the life cycle of the substance?
- Does a substance have a harmful effect on the climate and/or the ozone layer?
- What impacts on resource conservation may arise during the production of materials?
- Can a substance be recycled in the intended use – and if so, with what loss of quality?
- What level of responsibility do suppliers commit to their workers, consumers and the environment?
For each main criterion and its respective sub-criteria, corresponding information is requested in the user dialog. The value you enter is compared with the sustainability indicators stored in the program and an evaluation is output in the form of a color. The following colors and meanings are possible and are displayed in the summary of the input, the sustainability profile and the sustainability comparison:
- Red: not sustainable
- Yellow: average sustainability value
- Green: more sustainable
- Pink: Information is missing to answer the question(s)
- Gray: a criterion has not (yet) been processed
- Light blue: one criterion is not relevant
When you compare different substances or different mixtures, ChemSelect calculates the rank that the chemicals assume in this specific comparison for each main and sub-criterion, e.g. which substance is the most sustainable and which is the least sustainable. These ranks are displayed in the sustainability comparison in addition to the rating color. A low rank (e.g. rank 1) indicates high sustainability, a high rank (e.g. rank 5) means that the substance or mixture is the least sustainable. A maximum of 5 substances or mixtures can be compared with each other (rank 5 is therefore the "worst place").
The following information about substances in mixtures is necessary for the assessment. In some cases, ChemSelect provides help on where to find this information.
- Name and CAS number of substances (in mixtures)
- Classification of substances and mixtures
- Physico-chemical properties of substances (water solubility, vapor pressure, degradability, state of aggregation, etc.)
- If necessary, additional information on (environmental) toxicity from the literature
- Scope of application of substances and mixtures and key conditions during use along the life cycle
If you do not have any information, you can also select “no information” for most criteria, but this will result in a relatively poor rating (pink) because a worst-case scenario is assumed.
ChemSelect gives you a quick and clear overview of your chemicals. The quality of the results naturally also depends on the quality of the data entered.
Basically, ChemSelect was developed with the aim of making conservative assessments. This means that in case of doubt, strict assessments or worst-case assumptions are used. This must be taken into account when interpreting the results. ChemSelect does not provide an absolute sustainability assessment. Depending on the requirements, the assessment should be supplemented and refined using more detailed instruments (e.g. life cycle assessments).
ChemSelect is not suitable for assessing active ingredients in pesticides, biocides or pharmaceuticals. ChemSelect also generally cannot reflect the special features of many “novel materials” such as nanomaterials.
If chemicals are relatively similar, it may not be possible to differentiate the assessment sufficiently to make differences in sustainability clear. Furthermore, even small differences in the concentration of substances can make a big difference in the rankings of the sustainability comparison.
Due to the complexity of the assessment, which runs "in the background" of ChemSelect, not all detailed results can be displayed. To understand the results, we refer you to the concept document on the website of the Federal Environment Agency.
Form of use
You can download ChemSelect and install and use it on your (company) server.
Alternatively, you also have the option of working with ChemSelect via the Federal Environment Agency's server. Your data is only visible to you (link to data protection declaration). To use ChemSelect via the Federal Environment Agency, you can choose to create your own account or work with ChemSelect anonymously. If you choose "anonymous", you can only work with ChemSelect from the same device, as the user ID is saved. If you create an account with a password, you can dial in from different devices and/or pass on the dial-in data to colleagues.
Data entry
You can use the top navigation bar of ChemSelect to enter information on substances, mixtures, suppliers or application scenarios if you have this information.
As the assessments are mainly based on information on substances, it is recommended to start with the "Substances" section. All substances must be entered with their CAS number, as this is used to compare with substance lists.
Especially if you are working with ChemSelect for the first time, you should use the guided user dialog option by clicking on the orange arrow buttons at the top of the screen.
If you want to evaluate mixtures, you can first enter their composition. You can also select substances that have already been entered.
On the left-hand side of the screen there is a navigation that allows direct access to the various evaluation areas, as well as access to sustainability profiles, sustainability comparisons and substitutability tests. Here you can "jump" to the respective points.
As soon as you enter data in ChemSelect, it is saved (exclusively) in your account. There is no need to save the data separately. However, this also means that you cannot get overwritten data back by "undoing". Corrections must therefore be re-entered.
If you click on the help button (image), you will receive help on the respective point. This can be further explanations on the input or tips on sources of information.
In some places, “fixed notes” are integrated into the program. These can provide background information about the assessment with ChemSelect that helps to understand the results or draw attention to certain aspects of the assessment.
Under the “Summary” section, you can reduce a sustainability profile to 5 assessment aspects. This is recommended for communicating the results, e.g. with your management.
It is possible to import data about substances and mixtures into ChemSelect. To do this, you need to use an Excel file that is organized according to the data structure required by ChemSelect. Instructions for this can be found in the Excel file, which you can download from the top menu bar of ChemSelect under "Import".
You can make a backup as a JSON file under the menu item “Export” in the top menu bar and thus export your data and import it again at a later time under the menu item “Import”.