CCI researcher receives award for outstanding PhD work
14 February 2017
Rebecca Engel, a postdoctoral research scientist in the CCI, has recently received an award for her outstanding PhD work from her alma mater Aachen University.
The innovation award was awarded to Rebecca and her collaborator Dr. Marcus Rose on their project, “IsohexAmin”, for the development of technology for the production of amines from biomass. The project successfully developed a new process to produce amines from isohexides, which can be obtained from plant biomass.
The new catalytic process makes it possible to produce amines from sugar alcohol and ammonia, whereby water can be used as a solvent. The increased availability of biomass-based amines provides a boost to the production of polymers such as nylon from renewable resources.