Evonik aligns two business lines with new growth strategy

Businesses outside core areas are to be sold or discontinued

16-Oct-2024 - Evonik is reorganizing two business lines to strengthen their growth prospects. Coating & Adhesive Resins and Health Care will focus on and concentrate future investments in their respective core businesses. The remaining businesses outside these cores are to be sold to new owners or incorporated ...

Synthetic polymers against fungal infections

A chemistry PhD student is stranded at the Leibniz-HKI and uses the time for research on Candida albicans

26-Aug-2024 - When combined with antifungal drugs, synthetic polymers are particularly effective against Candida albicans. This is what a German-Australian research team found out and also clarified the mechanism of action behind it. The international collaboration came about by chance during an unplanned ...

Researchers discover an alternative to PEG

rPEG as a new type of Poly(ethylene glycol): random chains offer multiple advantages for medical application

28-Jun-2024 - Researchers have discovered a highly promising replacement for polyethylene glycols (or PEGs), which are considered almost indispensable in the pharmaceutical and medical fields. The new substance class called rPEG offers all the advantages of PEGs, while avoiding their drawbacks and has the ...

Producing chemicals in an environmentally friendly and energy-saving way: More yield through nanopores

New membrane process increases the efficiency of enzymes - reaction rate significantly improved

22-Apr-2024 - Flow-through reactors packed with enzymes can produce certain chemicals in a gentle and careful way. However, their performance has so far been limited. A research team from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon and RWTH Aachen University has now been able to increase the yield a thousandfold. Using a ...

Feathers replace petroleum

Adhesives from feathers: The project addresses a billion-dollar market

06-Mar-2024 - Adhesives are almost always based on fossil raw materials such as petroleum. Researchers at Fraunhofer have recently developed a process that allows to utilize keratin for this purpose. This highly versatile protein compound can be found, for instance, in chicken feathers. Not only can it be used ...

Repellant and Hostile to Bacteria

Zwitterionic polymeric sulfur ylides: antifouling coating with a synergistic effect

13-Sep-2023 - Bacteria that gather into biofilms on the surfaces of implants, catheters, breathing tubes, and other medical components are a serious health hazard. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, a research team from the Netherlands has now introduced a new material based on poly(sulfur ylides) that—when ...

Transforming flies into degradable plastics

15-Aug-2023 - Imagine using insects as a source of chemicals to make plastics that can biodegrade later — with the help of that very same type of bug. That concept is closer to reality than you might expect. Researchers will describe their progress to date, including isolation and purification of ...

Yokogawa Acquires Fluence Analytics, a Pioneer in Digitalizing the Monitoring of Polymerization Reaction Processes

Enabling continuous real-time monitoring of polymers and biopolymers: Gamechanger for the polymer and biopharmaceutical industry

14-Mar-2023 - Yokogawa Electric Corporation announces the acquisition of Fluence Analytics, Inc., a US-based startup that provides real-time analytics solutions to polymer and biopharmaceutical companies worldwide. Since signing investment and collaboration agreements in August 2021, the two companies have ...

Bioplastic bottles also keep cooking oil fresh for a long time

No transfer of compounds from the bottle material into the oil detected

22-Feb-2023 - Bottles made of bioplastic protect cooking oil from oxidative spoilage (rancidity) to a similar extent as PET bottles. In addition, even less taste- and odor-impairing substances were formed. This is the result of a recent study published in the journal "Food Packaging and Shelf Life" by ...

Bringing custom microbes to the business of recycling plastic

Two-step chemical and biological process approach turns mixed plastic waste into valuable new materials

26-Oct-2022 - Scientists working on a solution for plastic waste have developed a two-step chemical and biological process to break down and upcycle mixed plastics into valuable bioproducts. The project, which involves multiple institutions, draws on synthetic biology expertise at the Department of Energy’s ...