The tenth meeting of ESS provides an ideal opportunity to trace the development and possible future prospects for the uses of sonochemistry in environmental protection and general green technologies. A search of the older texts on power ultrasound reveals ideas on some applications of ultrasonics which have lain dormant for many years but have re-emerged, albeit in slightly different guises, as viable possibilities using modern technologies. Consider for example the removal of smoke or the atomisation of materials and the treatment of disease.

In the early days of ESS the majority of research projects were linked to improved methods of synthesis as evidenced by the proceedings of the first meeting of ESS at Autrans in 1990. However even in those days it was clear that sonication provided faster and cleaner methodologies and linked well with an emerging interest in "Green Chemistry".

The increasing international regulation on pollution has helped to promote the uses of sonochemistry in environmental protection. This has developed not only into improved methodoligies for emission control i.e. end of pipe treatment but also to the removal of existing pollution e.g. the purification of water (chemical and biological), the decontamination of the atmosphere and soil remediation.

So what are the prospects for sonochemistry in a green future for mankind ? On a small scale the costs are quite reasonable but there has always been a question about the economics of scale-up. Nowadays academics, equipment designers and manufacturers are actively engaged in planning for larger scale sonochemical processing. Without any question this will be an essential component in the final exploitation of green sonochemistry.

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