One thing I’ve learned today about my research is that a major part of my initial plan was to investigate and evaluate the effects that the production process of hydroquinone has on the environment, however, only 0.05% of hydroquinone that is actually manufactured goes into skin whitening creams, so even if all skin whitening creams with hydroquinone would be banned, it wouldn’t contribute much to the environmental impact the disposal of the chemical would have. This has taught me to be adaptable and alter my EE structure to make it more useful and meaningful.

I’m proud of having had a very productive meeting with my supervisor, and am proud that I have gotten some headway with my EE. What I’ll be doing next is looking further into the Cumene process (process to make hydroquinone) and the industrial synthesis of Vitamin C (the one that uses microbial oxidation). That will be roughly 1/4th of my EE which is what I need to submit by the 22nd.