Project duration: 2017-2019
Funding: BMBF
Principle investigator of the subproject at E3T
- Prof. Dr. Henner Hollert
- Dr. Thomas-Benjamin Seiler
Project progress of the subproject at E3T
- Carina Lackmann, B.Sc. (Master's Thesis)
Cooperation partners
- Covestro Deutschland AG
- CAT Catalytic Center RWTH
- LTT Chair of Technical Thermodynamics RWTH
- TU Berlin
- Puren GmbH
- PSS Polymer Standards Service GmbH
- BYK-Chemie GmbH
Project description
The overall aim of the project is to improve physical, chemical and environmental properties of surfactants by including carbon dioxide (CO2) as an alternative building block. This should be achieved for high-volume applications such as reactive polyols (e.g. hard foam) or surface-active substances (e.g. dispersants or non-ionic surfactants) by expanding the propylene oxide/CO2-technology to ethylene oxide/COsub>2-technology. Investigations of the new substances hence include not only checking the physical and chemical properties, but also determining their ecotoxicological potential. Within this project, the biodegradability and ecotoxicity of newly synthesized polymeric surfactants were examined using a Green Toxicology approach. A compound-specific bioassay battery was used to investigate and compare the newly developed products relative to conventional reference products. Namely, biodegradability, toxicity tests across a range of trophic levels, mutagenic potential and possible endocrine activity using cell-based assays were investigated.
