The chemical industry is energy- and resource-intensive. Electrifying its processes can significantly contribute to making it more climate-friendly. In the research and innovation project “ETOS”, Evonik is working together with partners from industry and academia to operate chemical reactions with electricity instead of fossil energy sources in the future.
Interview
“There are many ways to make glass more sustainable”
As a packaging material, glass faces tough competition from plastic, tinplate, and cardboard—and offers clear advantages when it comes to recycling. Dirk Diederich, CEO of the Institute for Glass and Raw Materials Technology in Göttingen, explains in which applications glass can perform particularly well—and how it can be optimized even further
Consumables
A Clear Improvement
Scratch-resistance, durability, and smoothness—these are the qualities consumers expect from bottles and jars. To achieve them, glass containers need a protective coating. Using silanes as the foundation, Evonik and its partner TotalEnergies have developed a safer and more environmentally friendly alternative to conventional methods
Biosolutions
Smooth As Silk
Silk has fascinated mankind for thousands of years. Now the precious fiber can be redefined biotechnologically. Together with the company AMSilk, Evonik uses fermentation to manufacture the precursor for a high-performance fiber modeled on nature
Fermentation
From a spider gene to a silken thread
The German company AMSilk has developed a process that enables bacteria to produce the protein that spiders use to spin their threads. These ten steps can turn spider silk into a blouse
Pharma
Perspective on RNA therapeutics, LNPs, and what comes next
Synthetic messenger RNA has revolutionized the development of medicines. While the focus has so far been infectious diseases, attention is now also turning to cancer and rare diseases. A key factor lies in the delivery systems
Lipid Nanoparticles
An Ecosystem for Lipid Nanoparticles
Why Evonik established a presence in Vancouver and Cambridge: to be close to cutting-edge science, innovative startups, and the next breakthroughs in RNA delivery
The German company AMSilk has developed a process that enables bacteria to produce the protein that spiders use to spin their threads. These ten steps can turn spider silk into a blouse
Biosolutions
Smooth As Silk
Silk has fascinated mankind for thousands of years. Now the precious fiber can be redefined biotechnologically. Together with the company AMSilk, Evonik uses fermentation to manufacture the precursor for a high-performance fiber modeled on nature
Care & Cosmetics
Where the Race Is Hard—but the Care Is Soft
A research and development team in Shanghai has created a new cosmetic emulsifier for the Chinese market. Its desired performance is based on a byproduct of rice production.
Biosolutions
Spicy solution: Some like it hot
What sounds like a culinary experiment is applied science for animal nutrition. Natural heat from chili could help prevent nutrient deficiencies in cows during early lactation and under summer heat stress.
Care & Cosmetics
Ahead of the Trend
Long before sustainability became a societal trend, Evonik introduced the first enzymatically produced emollients to the market. Today, they are in high demand in the cosmetics industry.
Consumables
Good Scent, Good Feel, Good for the Environment
Tony Liu and his team have developed a transparent fabric softener for the Asian market that eliminates the use of solvents. After intensive research and development, they achieved a breakthrough: a particularly eco-friendly and cost-effective product.
Care & Cosmetics
“We share the same vision”
L’Oréal is the world’s leading cosmetics manufacturer. Guillaume Climeau, the company’s Head of Business Development and Alliance Management for R&I Open Innovation, explains what sustainability and the tripartite collaboration with Abolis and Evonik mean for L’Oréal.
Care & Cosmetics
Cultivating relationships
Cosmetics don’t just make us look and feel good, they are increasingly eco-friendly too. Through innovation, partnerships and acquisitions, Evonik is reinforcing its focus on biobased ingredients and sustainable production. Now, with beauty giant L’Oréal, the company has invested in the French startup Abolis, which uses biotechnology to produces molecules for care products.
Biosolutions
Benefiting from the Tree of Life
The fruit of the African baobab tree serves as an important source of income for the local population and provides broad benefits beyond Africa—as a superfood and as an ingredient in skin and hair care products.
Nutrition
New Source of Natural Nutrients
Veramaris' algae oil is a sustainable source of valuable omega-3 fatty acids. Initially, several hurdles had to be overcome. However, the team was not discouraged by these challenges. Today, Veramaris is one of the fastest-growing biosolutions at Evonik.
Here, we present countries and their cultures where Evonik is active.
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Sustainability
Interview
“There are many ways to make glass more sustainable”
As a packaging material, glass faces tough competition from plastic, tinplate, and cardboard—and offers clear advantages when it comes to recycling. Dirk Diederich, CEO of the Institute for Glass and Raw Materials Technology in Göttingen, explains in which applications glass can perform particularly well—and how it can be optimized even further
Circularity
"High-quality feedstock is essential "
As the circular economy takes shape, pyrolysis is viewed in the plastics sector as a promising pathway to repurpose mixed or contaminated plastic waste. In this interview, Nirav Shah, Global Director Re-refining & Re-cycling at Evonik, explains where this development stands today.
Circularity
Cracked Plastic
More plastic is to be recycled worldwide. Pyrolysis, which is the liquefaction of plastic waste, creates new possibilities here. Evonik offers additives and technologies that improve the quality of pyrolysis oil in a manner that makes it suitable for the production of polymers
Politics
Pyrolysis and Politics
The role that pyrolysis oils from plastic waste can play in the production of new plastics in the future is not just dependent on purity and technical feasibility. The political environment is also a factor here and can provide incentives to promote chemical recycling—or not. It therefore makes sense to take a look at the EU, the United States, and China, which together account for around three quarters of global steam cracker capacity
Circularity
One more round
In chemical recycling of plastics, the quality of the resulting pyrolysis oil is crucial. The purer the product, the more opportunities it offers for further processing. This is how the cycle works.
The discovery of antibiotics revolutionized medicine—and at the same time sowed the seeds of a global crisis. That’s because it is increasingly the case that bacteria can no longer be combated with the available means
Lipid Nanoparticles
An Ecosystem for Lipid Nanoparticles
Why Evonik established a presence in Vancouver and Cambridge: to be close to cutting-edge science, innovative startups, and the next breakthroughs in RNA delivery
Health & Wellbeing
Take a Closer Look
Take a moment to explore Evonik’s innovative solutions—for contact lens wearers and beyond.
Care & Cosmetics
Where the Race Is Hard—but the Care Is Soft
A research and development team in Shanghai has created a new cosmetic emulsifier for the Chinese market. Its desired performance is based on a byproduct of rice production.
Care & Cosmetics
Ahead of the Trend
Long before sustainability became a societal trend, Evonik introduced the first enzymatically produced emollients to the market. Today, they are in high demand in the cosmetics industry.
Mercury—A Metal in Motion. Today, due to its toxicity to humans, it is largely confined to niche applications. In the past, it was used not only in thermometers but also in the making of remarkable mirrors—a technique Steffen Noack initially had to teach himself.
“This Blue Is Divine!”
A blue with a history spanning more than a thousand years, made unique by brominated compounds: For the Ptil Tekhelet Association in Jerusalem, it is indispensable for producing the Jewish prayer shawl in the traditional way—the only organization in the world that does so. Physicist and electrical engineer Baruch Sterman explains the background.
"We want to build the most accurate clock in the world"
Time is no longer measured solely in human dimensions. Atomic clocks control and regulate time more accurately than humans ever could. The Vienna University of Technology now wants to go one step further and base clocks on the atomic nucleus.
Hydrogen from the biorefinery
At the Evonik site in Rheinfelden, on the border with Switzerland, hydrogen is produced in an unconventional way.
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