elements21 SCIENCE NEWSLETTER | 18| 19| 20||2007 Coating & Bonding Technologies Designing with Polymers Biotechnology Interfacial Technologies Inorganic Particle Design SCIENTIFIC FORUM Evonik Meets Science 1 EDITORIAL Research RequiresDialogue “The future begins here,” pledged Creavis employees and visitors at the inauguration of the Nanotronics Science-to-Business Center almost two years ago in Marl. It was written in red letters on the floor to the offices and pilot plants and underscored how highly we value research. For one Creavis project, the future has indeed begun. That project is the flexible ceramic separator SEPARION®, which enables the use of large-scale lithium-ion batteries. For this development, Evonik Industries and Prof. Paul Roth of the Univer- sity of Duisburg-Essen have been nominated for the Federal President’s Future Prize 2007. The nomina- tion honors both the scientific quality of the work, as well as the overall importance of the innovation to society, where it will create new long-term jobs. We are quite proud of this achievement. One of the factors in the success of this development has been close contact among the scientists, both internally and externally: The best ideas occur in direct dialogue, and short communication paths ensure that they are not lost. This is also the motivation for our Evonik Meets Science event. Continuing the tradi- tion developed at Degussa, we extended our fourth-ever invitation to some 200 scientists to join us to dis- Dr. Alfred Oberholz cuss current research topics, inspire new ideas, and gather feedback. Member of the This issue will give you a look at the topics we addressed – topics as diverse in their content as they are Executive Board of Evonik Industries AG in their stages of development: Some are still at the level of basic research, while others have already reached market maturity. We need both kinds – those that are in their infancy, and those that are appli- cation-oriented. The Nobel Prizes for the year 2007 in Physics and Chemistry provide impressive proof of this. While Peter Grünberg tracked an exotic phenomenon of sold-state physics and, in the process, made a discovery that revolutionized storage technology, Gerhard Ertl worked on an application-relevant issue: How metal surfaces enabled certain chemical reactions. His methods, however, came from basic research. Utilizing the strengths of university and industrial research alike, close contact among scientists, being open to new ideas – this describes our innovation philosophy. The Areas of Competence, the Science-to- Business Center, and Evonik Meets Science reflect this mindset. If you would like to learn more about the individual projects we discussed during the event, please do not hesitate to use the phone numbers and call the authors. Research requires dialogue. I hope you enjoy reading the current issue. elements21 | 2007 4 FUTURE PRIZE BIOTECHNOLOGY Ceramic separator for lithium-ion batteries: 26 Tissue engineering: Conquering new territory Evonik team nominated for the german future prize with artificial organs 29 From extraction to fermentation: 8 EVONIK MEETS SCIENCE SCIENTIFIC FORUM contents New business prospects for specialty amino acids Intense dialogue between science and industry NEWS COATING & BONDING TECHNOLOGIES 30 Groundbreaking ceremony: 10 Highly reactive powder coatings expand the range of New production plant for methacrylates in Shanghai applications: Breakthrough in storage stability thanks to 30 PMMA molding compounds for flat panel displays: purified formulation New plant comes onstream in Taiwan 13 Automotive coatings – the silent revolution: 31 Evonik and TSM plan construction of an Although automotive coatings are already high in quality, integrated solar silicon production facility research continues at breakneck speed 31 R&D center expanded in Shanghai The cover picture DESIGNING WITH POLYMERS INTERFACIAL TECHNOLOGIES symbolizes Evonik’s 16 New functions by programmed self-assembly: 32 Nanoemulsions for PEG-free cosmetics by five Areas of Compe- Macromolecular building blocks simple dilution with water made from polymer-peptide conjugates tence, which were 35 Water makes the diesel clean: Microemulsions reduce also the topics at 19 Drug delivery systems: the discharge of pollutants from engines Evonik Meets Science Conveying active ingredients to the cell interior (see p. 8) INORGANIC PARTICLE DESIGN NEWS 38 Evonik is the leading producer of inorganic particles: 23 Evonik Röhm: 100 years of thefuture Nearly endless applications 24 Creavis’ nanotronics summer school 41 Inorganic nanofillers for transparent polymers: links science and industry Invisible helpers for new functionalities 24 Threonine facility being expanded in hungary 25 Catalysis research: Evonik employees 44 EVENTS AND CREDITS receive renowned raney award 2 elements21 EVONIK SCIENCE NEWSLETTER news +++ White Biotechnology: Evonik Industries Offers European Science-to-Business Award European researchers interested in putting their exceptional scientific of the French company Metabolic Explorer; Prof. Heinz Saedler, direc- work in biotechnology into practice can look forward to support from tor of plant breeding research at the Max Planck Institute in Cologne; Evonik Industries. For the second time, the company is offering the Prof. Thomas Gutzwiller of the school for entrepreneurs at the Uni- European Science-to-Business Award, an innovation award that rec- versity of St. Gallen; and Steffen Klusmann, editor-in-chief of Finan- ognizes the market potential of an invention and assists its conversion cial Times Germany, which supports the Award as a media partner. to innovation. The award carries a prize money of € 100,000 and also Dr. Arend Oetker, president of the Donor’s Association for the Promo- includes management training at the University of St. Gallen. tion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany, is patron of the Award. “Our objective in offering the award is to build bridges between “This time, we decided that the focus would be on white biotech- university and industrial research,” said Dr. Alfred Oberholz, the mem- nology, because its environmental and economic advantages are in- ber of the Executive Board of Evonik Industries AG with responsibili- creasingly making it one of the key technologies of the 21st century,” ty for R&D in the Chemicals Business Area. “We want to motivate explained Oberholz. Experts predict that as early as 2010, between young scientific talent with an entrepreneurial spirit and help them 10 and 20 percent of all chemical substances will be produced by bio- swiftly convert their research results into products.” The European Sci- technological means. In specialty chemicals, which represents 40 per- ence-to-Business Award 2008 is aimed at scientists, entrepreneurs, cent of the chemical industry and is therefore its largest single sector, and the founders of start-ups who research or work in the field of growth is projected to increase significantly over the same period. white biotechnology, are 38 years old or younger, and work in a team In 2006, Russell Cowburn, professor of nanotechnology at with a maximum of three members. Entries must be received by Imperial College, London, accepted the first European Science-to- March 31, 2008. Business Award in the field of material sciences: “The Award helped Before the winner of the Evonik European Science-to-Business me enormously in developing and implementing my ideas for the Award in white biotechnology is announced in the fall of 2008, the manufacture of magnetic data storage,” he said. He also has a tip for entries will be thoroughly examined by a renowned jury from industry the Award winner in 2008: The prizewinner should just get used to and science. In addition to Evonik Executive Board member Dr. Alfred his newfound popularity and practice giving speeches. Oberholz, the members of the jury include Wim Soetaert, professor of More information on the Evonik European Science-to-Business biochemical technology at the University of Gent; Philippe Soucaille Award can be found at www.evonik.com/award. +++ Evonik. Power to create. Evonik was christened in a spectacu- lar event on September 12 in Essen. Evonik Industries AG is the creative industrial group which operates in three highly profitable, promising business areas: Chemicals, Energy, and Real Estate. The company is a global leader in specialty chemicals, an expert in power generation from hard coal and renewable energies, and one of the largest private resi- dential real estate companies in Germany. Evonik Industries is active in over 100 countries around the world. In fiscal 2006 around 43,000 employees generated sales of €14.8 billion and operating profit (EBIT) of over €1.2 billion. Evonik plans to enter the capital market in the first half of 2008 elements21 EVONIK SCIENCE NEWSLETTER 3 CERAMIC SEPARATOR FOR LITHIUM-ION BATTERIES Evonik Team Nominated for the r. Andreas Gutsch and Dr. Gerhard Hörpel of Evonik Ceramic separators from Evonik enable Industries, along with Prof. Paul Roth of the Univer- the use of large lithium-ion batteries sity of Duisburg-Essen, are among the nominees for the German Future Prize 2007. The team impressed Other areas of application in which there is a demand for large- Dthe judges with its entry Nanoschicht mit Megaleistung scale batteries, however, have been barred to lithium-ion bat- (“Nanolayer with Megapower”), an application that enables the teries, because they could not meet the safety requirements. safer use of large-scale