Young Scientist Award for detergents and cleaning agents from the GDCh Division of Detergent Chemistry

The Division of Detergent Chemistry of the German Chemical Society (GDCh) awards – provided that the proposals are worthy of an award – an annual Young Scientist Award for an outstanding bachelor’s thesis, a master’s/approval thesis and a dissertation with particular relevance to the development of detergents and cleaning agents. The prizes are endowed with 1000 euros, 2000 euros and 3000 euros respectively.

The price is currently not advertised.

On the occasion of the European Detergents Conference on October 25, 2023 in Berlin, the Division of Detergent Chemistry awarded funding prizes in the area of ​​basic research in detergents and cleaning agents to Cara Kohler (Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, Krefeld) , Jörn Philipp Optatzi (TH Köln - University of Applied Sciences) and Dr. Susanne Jacksch (Furtwangen University and Justus Liebig University Gießen).

Dr. Susanne Jacksch received the Young Scientist Award for her outstanding dissertation entitled: “Investigations on the structure and function of the microbiota in household washing machines, kitchen sponges, and on laundered textiles”. "With her excellent work on the hygiene of washing machines, laundry and kitchen sponges in the home, Ms. Jacksch made an important contribution to the development of sustainable, innovative detergents and hygiene products. Microbiome and metagenomic analyzes as well as state-of-the-art metatranscriptomics were established and applied. In addition, the basics for the application were established RNA-based stable isotope sampling for washed textiles. Particularly noteworthy are the quantitative data on the microbiological contamination of washing machines and the contribution to application-oriented basic knowledge."

Jörn Philipp Optatzi received the Young Scientist Award for his outstanding master's thesis with the title: "Control of the interface properties of surfactant mixtures using the hydrophilic-lipophilic deviation concept". " In his extensive work, Mr. Optatzi managed to specifically adjust the interface properties of different surfactant mixtures at variable salinity using the hydrophilic-lipophilic deviation concept and to show that this concept can serve as a guide for the formulation of surfactant/oil/water systems with optimal Oil removal capacity can be used. Mr. Optatzi combined physicochemical methods such as the spinning drop and bubble pressure methods with dynamic phase inversion and salinity inversion, modeled the interfacial tension using the net-average curvature model and demonstrated the applicability of the results of the hydrophilic-lipophilic deviation concept based on high-throughput washing tests."

Carla Kohler received the Young Scientist Award for her outstanding bachelor's thesis entitled: “Characterization of sophorolipids and study of synergism with cationic surfactants”. "In her very detailed work on the properties of new glycolipid surfactants, Ms. Kohler managed to clarify the phase and aggregation behavior of sophorolipids and cationic surfactants in binary and multicomponent systems and to develop synergistic mixtures that are also highly relevant for practical applications. These results were achieved with a variety of analytical methods, in addition to classic surface and interfacial tension measurements with NMR spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. "

On the occasion of the European Detergents Conference on October 26, 2022 in Berlin, the Division of Detergent Chemistry awarded funding awards in the area of ​​basic research in detergents and cleaning agents to Dr. Christoph Brudl (Graz University of Technology), Hailey Poole (University of Stuttgart) and Sophia Botsch (University of Stuttgart).

Dr. Christoph Brudl received the Young Scientist Award for his outstanding dissertation entitled: “Going green and clean – Is it possible? (Development of a biodegradable high performance dishwashing detergent)”. "In his very detailed work on the development of biodegradable machine dishwashing detergents, Dr. Brudl managed to find a system of biodegradable complexing agents, surfactants and enzymes whose performance is comparable to conventional machine dishwashing detergents. With the help of the physicochemical methods SEM, Raman - and IR spectroscopy as well as AFM and XPS, Dr. Brudl was able to detect residual contamination on artificial surfaces. This makes it easier to determine the correct amounts and combinations of surfactants for dishwasher detergent formulations."

Hailey Poole received the Young Scientist Award for her outstanding master's thesis entitled: “CO ₂ -Switchable Foaming Agents”. "In her original work on new surfactants whose foaming behavior in aqueous solution can be switched by varying the gas flowing through them, Ms. Poole presents a new concept for the synthesis of such surfactants by moving the switchable group from the head to the tail, in contrast to known structures of the surfactant. By fundamentally characterizing the surfactant properties and the foaming behavior of three exemplary structures of an anionic, nonionic and cationic representative, Ms. Poole proves the effectiveness of the concept and lays the foundations for the further optimization of the switchability of these substance groups."

Sophia Botsch received the Young Scientist Award for her outstanding bachelor's thesis entitled: "Influence of surfactant concentration on the structure of porous polystyrene synthesized from emulsion templates". "In her very detailed work on the polymerization of water-in-oil styrene emulsions with oil- or water-soluble initiators, Ms. Botsch managed to clarify the mechanisms of the formation of different polymer foam structures. Ms. Botsch was able to explain the pore shape and pore thickness of the polymer foams and the actual foam structure correlate the amounts of surfactant used, explain the phase behavior and at the same time refute older hypotheses about the formation of these structures."

On the occasion of the European Detergents Conference on October 13th, 2021 in Berlin, the Division of Detergent Chemistry of Laundry awarded prizes in the field of basic research into detergents and cleaning agents to Dr. Lars Gabriel (Friedrich Schiller University Jena) and Jan Nilles (Kao Chemicals GmbH, Emmerich, and Hochschule Niederrhein, Krefeld).

dr Lars Gabriel received the Young Scientist Award for his outstanding dissertation entitled: "Functional polymers based on polysaccharides: synthesis, characterization and properties". Dr. In his doctoral thesis, Gabriel studied multifunctional polysaccharide derivatives, which he examined in detail with regard to special properties such as graying inhibition and dirt removal effects in detergents. The knowledge gained deepens the knowledge about the so-called functional polymers based on renewable raw materials, especially polysaccharides and especially xylan and chitosan derivatives. The work impresses with its didactic, clear structure and its scientifically clear presentation of structure-property relationships. The relevant results have been used in several patent applications and publications.

Jan Nilles received the Young Scientist Award for his outstanding master's thesis entitled: "Systematic investigation of alkoxylated alkyl ether carboxylic acids in metal cleaning". Mr. Nilles has carried out a systematic investigation of alkoxylated ether carboxylic acids with a focus on optimizing cleaning baths in metal cleaning. By building up a set of physicochemical parameters such as cloud point, dynamic surface tension and foaming behavior, the structure-effect behavior of these baths could be understood for the first time and new formulations based on ether carboxylic acids could be developed. When using these systems, the cleaning performance could be doubled, the time and temperature reduced and the metal cleaning thus made more sustainable.