September 23, 2016

Henkel presents the “Laundry & Home Care Research Award”

Award for outstanding research 

Düsseldorf – Yesterday, on September 22, Henkel presented the “Laundry & Home Care Research Award 2016” to Dr. Kristin Ganske for her outstanding research at Friedrich Schiller University Jena. The award comes with a 3,000-euro grant. For her thesis, Ganske worked on new synthesis routes for bio-based polymers, which could lead to better stain removal on textiles.

Away with stains
The 31-year-old doctoral candidate in chemistry used cellulose to synthesize so-called cellulose carbamates, which have strong film-forming properties. By choosing cellulose, she opted for the most common organic compound on earth. “The new polymer is not just much more resource-conserving, but also biodegradable,” says Ganske. In the past, these products were partly obtained from non-renewable petrochemical raw materials. 

“Dr. Ganske’s work has shown that there are new synthetic approaches to obtaining functional bio-based polymers, which can improve laundry detergents’ washing performance. Her findings are an important building block for the development of more efficient and more resource-conserving detergents,” says Prof. Dr. Thomas Müller-Kirschbaum, Head of Global Research and Development in the Laundry & Home Care business unit.
 
Supporting young scientists
This was the seventh time that the Laundry & Home Care business unit presented the award. “As a company with its own research activities, supporting the next generation of scientists is very important to us,” says Müller-Kirschbaum. “That’s because scientific excellence is the basis for technical innovation.” At the award ceremony, Ganske presented her research findings to representatives of Henkel’s Research and Development and to the Laundry & Home Care business unit’s Technology Advisory Board – a committee of leading scientists in the fields relevant to the development of detergents and cleaning agents. In particular, Henkel cooperates with these scientists to research and assess new trends.

Henkel operates worldwide with leading brands and technologies in three business units: Laundry & Home Care, Beauty Care and Adhesive Technologies. Founded in 1876, Henkel holds globally leading market positions, both in the consumer and industrial businesses, with around 50,000 employees and well-known brands such as Persil, Schwarzkopf and Loctite. Henkel reported sales of 18.1 billion euros and adjusted operating profit of 2.9 billion euros in fiscal 2015. Henkel’s preferred shares are listed in the German stock index DAX. 

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Contact	Hanna Philipps	Rabea Möllers
Phone	+49 (0)211 797-3626	+49 (0)211 797-6976
E-mail	hanna.philipps@henkel.com	Rabea.moellers@henkel.com

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