Chemistry for the Future – Solvay Prize 2015

Solvay has announced the winner of its 2015 Chemistry of the Future prize: Professor Ben L Feringa from the University of Groningen. Professor Feringa received the award from Her Majesty Queen Mathilde of Belgium during a ceremony on 18 November, 2015 at Le Palais des Académies in central Brussels. Professor Feringa was awarded this prestigious prize principally for his work on supramolecular chemistry and nanotechnology. Read the Solvay press release here.

Ben Feringa (left) has been professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Groningen since 1988. He is widely recognised as one of the world’s most creative and productive chemists. He has achieved breakthroughs in various fields of chemistry, including organic synthesis, catalysis, supramolecular chemistry and nanotechnology.

In particular his discovery in 1999 of the ‘molecular motor’, a light-driven rotating molecule, is widely recognized as a world-class breakthrough. The potential applications of this concept are as numerous as they are spectacular. The idea that molecular motors can transport themselves through the bloodstream in order to deliver drugs to previously unreachable locations in the human body with a high degree of accuracy is particularly inspiring.

Great honour
“I am greatly honoured by the prestigious Solvay Prize which is also a superb recognition for my team of talented students whom I have had the privilege to guide beyond the frontiers of the chemical sciences. Inspired and intrigued by the machinery of life we went on a quest to control motion at the nanoscale. Our ability to govern dynamic functions, as we demonstrated with our molecular motor, is essential for the development of responsive molecular systems that will form the basis for a whole range of smart products in the future,“ said Professor Feringa, who is also Vice-Chairman of the Royal Academy of Sciences of the Netherlands.” I am convinced that the creative power of synthetic chemistry will bring unimaginable solutions to the sustainable society of the future and to the well-being of mankind.”

“The Solvay Prize rewards decisive breakthroughs in scientific research achieved today and destined to shape the chemistry of the future. The research by Professor Ben Feringa allows us to anticipate a variety of scientific developments, chiefly in healthcare, and underlines chemistry’s essential role, as a science and as an industry, in delivering solutions for society and help human progress,” commented Solvay CEO Jean-Pierre Clamadieu, who chaired the Solvay Prize ceremony.

In the video below Professor Feringa describes some aspects of his work on chemical nanorobots. (Video in Dutch with English subtitles).



Awards galore!
Professor Feringa has been awarded numerous prizes, including the 2004 Spinoza Prize, the highest Dutch prize in science, awarded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). In 2008 the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) appointed Feringa as Academy Professor, giving him the opportunity to focus exclusively on his chosen fields of innovative teaching and research for five years. In 2011 he received the Van’t Hoff medal that is awarded every ten years by the University of Amsterdam for work in the field of chemistry. In May 2013 he was awarded a TOP grant of EUR 780 000 by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) to continue his research on molecular motors.

In July 2013 Professor Feringa was awarded the Lilly European Distinguished Science Award, followed in September by the Marie Curie Medal, the highest honour awarded annually by the Polish Chemical Society for a chemical scientist working outside Poland. In November 2013 he was awarded two important Japanese prizes and this was followed in September 2014 by the prestigious Cope Scholar Award of the American Chemical Society.

Solvay prize
The Solvay Chemistry of the Future prize is intended to endorse basic research and underline the essential role of chemistry, both as a science and an industry, in helping solve some of the most pressing issues the world is facing today. The Chemistry for the Future Solvay Prize rewards a major scientific discovery that could shape tomorrow’s chemistry and help human progress and celebrates the strong support for scientific research given by the founder of the Solvay Group, Ernest Solvay.

The €300,000 prize is awarded every two years. In 2013, the inaugural Chemistry for the Future Solvay Prize was presented to Professor Peter G. Schultz from the Scripps Research Institute in California, and director of the California Institute for Biomedical Research. He received the award for his multiple scientific contributions at the interface between chemistry and biology. In particular the exploitation of molecular diversity and the rational expansion of the genetic code of living organisms. His ground-breaking work has made an impact in many scientific fields, including biotechnology and medicine. It also has important implications for regenerative medicine, and the treatment of infectious disease, autoimmune disease and cancer.

Selection process
The selection process for the 2015 prize was two-stage process. First, independent nominators propose candidates whose achievements in the field of chemistry, including biochemistry, material sciences, soft matter, biophysics and chemical engineering, will shape the chemistry of the future. Then an international jury selects the winner from this list of candidates.

The jury for 2015 was led by Håkan Wennerström, Professor of theoretical and physical chemistry at the University of Lund, Sweden. He is a former chairman of the jury for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He was joined by the first winner Professor Peter Schultz, Paul Chaikin of New York University, Professor Christopher Dobson from the University of Cambridge, Professor Gerhard Ertl from the Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-PlanckGesellschaft in Berlin, Professor Jean-Marie Lehn of l’Université de Strasbourg, Patrick Maestro, member of the Académie des Technologies in France and Scientific Director of Solvay, and Paul Baekelmans, Science Adviser to the Solvay Group and Professor emeritus at the Université Libre de Bruxelles.

Find out more about the prize and its winners on the Solvay website.

Chemistry for the Future: Solvay Prize 2015

Solvay has announced the start of the search for its Chemistry of the Future prize for 2015. The prize is intended to endorse basic research and underline the essential role of chemistry, both as a science and an industry, in helping solve some of the most pressing issues the world is facing today. The Chemistry for the Future Solvay Prize rewards a major scientific discovery that could shape tomorrow’s chemistry and help human progress and celebrates the strong support for scientific research given by the founder of the Solvay Group, Ernest Solvay.

The €300,000 prize is awarded every two years. In 2013, the inaugural Chemistry for the Future Solvay Prize was presented to Professor Peter G. Schultz. The next Chemistry for the Future Solvay Prize will be awarded on 18 November, 2015 at Le Palais des Académies in Brussels, Belgium.

Professor Peter G. Schultz (left), a professor at the Scripps Research Institute in California, and director of the California Institute for Biomedical Research, was awarded the first Chemistry for the Future Solvay Prize in 2013 for his multiple scientific contributions at the interface between chemistry and biology. In particular the exploitation of molecular diversity and the rational expansion of the genetic code of living organisms.


His ground-breaking work has made an impact in many scientific fields, including biotechnology and medicine. It also has important implications for regenerative medicine, and the treatment of infectious disease, autoimmune disease and cancer.

Selection process
The selection process for the 2015 prize is two-stage process. First, independent nominators propose candidates whose achievements in the field of chemistry, including biochemistry, material sciences, soft matter, biophysics and chemical engineering, will shape the chemistry of the future. Then the international jury selects the winner of the Chemistry for the Future Solvay Prize from amongst the list of candidates.

The jury for 2015 will be led by Håkan Wennerström, Professor of theoretical and physical chemistry at the University of Lund, Sweden. He is a former chairman of the jury for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He is joined by the first winner Professor Peter Schultz, Paul Chaikin, Professor of Physics at the New York University, USA, specializing in solid state physics, in particular soft matter, and Christopher Dobson, John Humphrey Plummer Professor of Chemical and Structural Biology at the University of Cambridge.

Also on the jury is Gerhard Ertl, Professor emeritus at the Department of Physical Chemistry, Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-PlanckGesellschaft in Berlin, Germany, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his studies of chemical processes on solid surface, together with Jean-Marie Lehn, Professor at the Institut d’Etudes Avancées de l’Université de Strasbourg and Professor emeritus at the Collège de France in Paris. Lehn was an early innovator in the field of supramolecular chemistry and is a fellow winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Completing the jury are Patrick Maestro, member of the Académie des Technologies in France, Scientific Director of Solvay, and Paul Baekelmans, Science Adviser to the Solvay Group and Professor emeritus at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. He chairs the Conseil National de Chimie of the Académie des Sciences de Belgique.

Find out more at the Solvay website and a flyer for the prize can be downloaded here.

E4Water study wins at 2014 European Responsible Care Awards

The ‘Saving water through symbiosis’ initiative led by Solvay SA has won the 2014 Responsible Care Environment Award organised by Cefic. The initiative is part of the SusChem-inspired ‘E4-water’ FP7 project, which aims to save large volumes of potable water and virtually eliminate discharges of salt and liquid waste. Solvay’s contribution is based on three units installed at their site within the Port of Antwerp Chemical Cluster. The first two units are already fully operational and are currently saving the company 33 cubic metres of water every hour. 

The first unit involves recycling of wastewater through ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis membranes to produce demineralised water that can be used in Solvay’s chemical processes. The second unit can produce this demineralised water from brackish surface water, pumped up from the river and harbour near the plant. Both modules are possible thanks to support from two other companies, Evides Industriewater and Vito nv.

The third module capitalises on the previous two. The aim is to treat an external company’s salted waste water and use the resulting purified water and salt concentrate in Solvay’s manufacturing processes. In this way, the external partner avoids effluent production and Solvay gains additional water savings of 20 cubic metres per hour.

Besides saving water, the project serves as an industrial ‘experimental garden’. Companies are motivated to work symbiotically, and experiments and demonstrations are carried out for external users.

In awarding the prize to the E4Water case study the judges commented: “Water is a key issue for the chemical sector and the Solvay entry is a very good, up-to date project which offers another fine example of industrial ecology.”

Responsible Care® is the global chemical industry’s unique initiative to improve health, environmental performance, enhance security, and to communicate with stakeholders about products and processes.

About E4Water
The chemical industry provides the highest potential for increasing eco-efficiency in industrial water management. The Economically and Ecologically Efficient Water Management in the European Chemical Industry (E4Water) FP7 project addresses crucial process industry needs, to overcome bottlenecks and barriers for an integrated and energy efficient water management.

The main objective of the project is to develop, test and validate new integrated approaches, methodologies and process technologies for a more efficient and sustainable management of water in chemical industry with cross-fertilization possibilities to other industrial sectors.

E4water unites in its consortium large chemical industries, leading European water sector companies and authorities, innovative RTD centres and universities, the European Technology Platforms SusChem and WssTP.

E4Water aims to achieve an expected reduction of 20-40% in water use, 30-70% in wastewater production, 15-40% in energy use and up to 60% direct economic benefits at its industrial case study sites. E4Water builds on state-of-the-art and new basic R&D concepts. Their realization, improvement, utilization and validation, with the compromise of early industrial adaptors, are clearly innovative.

You can download the latest E4Water newsletter here.

Presenting the ICIS Innovation Awards 2014

Today (17 October 2014) the winners of this year’s ICIS Innovation Awards have been announced with Huntsman Textile Effects being chosen as the overall winner for 2014. The judging panel for the 2014 awards included SusChem board member Peter Nagler of Evonik and SusChem coordinator at Cefic: Jacques Kormonicki.

Huntsman’s AVITERA SE poly-reactive dyes for cotton and cotton blends were judged to be a significant scientific advance, and one that goes a long way to answering the textile industry’s sustainability challenge in terms of water, energy and waste reductions. The process cuts water and energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions by 50% and salt consumption by 25%.

The Huntsman entry also won the category for Innovation with the Best Benefit to Environment or Sustainability that is sponsored by U.S. Chemicals, LLC.

In their deliberations the judges were looking for innovations that were at or close to commercialisation and that fulfilled a need or created a new need or market. The innovations also needed to be creative and relevant to the market.

The Awards, sponsored overall by Roland Berger Strategy Consultants and with category sponsorship from U.S. Chemicals, LLC, recognise outstanding technological and business innovation in the global chemical industry.

Warm glow of Innovation
The award for best product innovation went to Solvay, for its Emana polyamide fibres that contains an additive that converts the wearer’s body heat into physiologically beneficial far-infrared radiation. The winning entry, developed in Brazil, was deemed to have a strong scientific element to it and innovative marketing.

Jacques Korminicki of Cefic said: “It looks like a great innovation and a strong marketing opportunity.”

Honeywell UOP, with INEOS and Total, were awarded the best process innovation award for their advanced methanol-to-olefins process. This award category, which was reintroduced to the ICIS awards after a couple of year’s absence, was judged to be very timely with migration of global petrochemical feedstock from naphtha to coal and natural gas.

Finally the best innovation by an SME award was made to Argex Titanium for a novel route to titanium dioxide pigment.

The judging panel also awarded Clariant a special mention in the Best Process Innovation category, for its Heat Generating Material for use in on-purpose olefin production using the Catofin process.

John Baker, ICIS editor and organiser of the Awards, commented that: “This year the Awards attracted a near-record entry, showcasing a wide range of excellent innovation across the chemical sector. All the winners demonstrate not only that innovation is well and truly alive in the chemical industry but that this innovation brings benefits not only to companies and their customers but the environment as well. And it helps the sustainability of the business of chemicals.”

Full descriptions of all the winning entries, and interviews with the sponsors, can be found on the ICIS website and a special ICIS Chemical Business supplement on the awards and the winners can be accessed on-line here.

What are the ICIS awards
The awards are open to any chemical company or collaborative effort between industry and academia anywhere in the World. The judging panel looks for innovative projects that solve problems or provide solutions for the company or its customers or that demonstrate an innovative approach to business, the environment and sustainability.

In 2014 there were four prize categories:

• Best Product Innovation
• Best Process Innovation
• Best Innovation by a Small or Medium-sized Enterprise (SME)
• Innovation with Best Benefit for the Environment or Sustainability

For more information about the ICIS Chemical Business Innovation Awards or for specific queries contact John Baker at ICIS.

SusChem Stakeholder Interviews from #SusChem10

A new video of interviews from the 2014 SusChem Stakeholder event in mid June has just been published (see below). The video outlines SusChem’s rationale, vision, achievements and future goals.

Since it launch in 2004, SusChem has made many significant achievements - including the initiation of projects worth more than € 1.5 billion in FP7, its visionary flagship projects such as the Smart Energy Home, the F3 Factory and Integrated Biorefinery, and more recently the launch of two large Public-Private-Partnerships (PPPs) under Horizon 2020 : SPIRE and the BBI JTI.



The video features interviews with Clara de la Torre of the European Commission, Gernot Klotz of Cefic, Peter Nagler from Evonik and Louis Neltner of Solvay. The short video covers topics such as SusChem’s role in tackling societal challenges, the role of PPPs, and how Horizon 2020 will help accelerate innovation in Europe.

SusChem’s vision is for a competitive and innovative Europe where sustainable chemistry and biotechnology together provide solutions for future generations.

For more information on SusChem activities and the new SusChem SIRA contact Jacques Komornicki, SusChem Coordinator at Cefic. The SusChem website is at http://www.suschem.org.