BERLIN, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Winning projects address challenges in developing countries

Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany, and information solutions provider Elsevier have announced the winners of the first Green and Sustainable Chemistry Challenge. The winning projects demonstrate the diversity and creativity of green and sustainable chemistry.

Elsevier and Leuphana launched the Green and Sustainable Chemistry Challenge in 2015 to support and enhance sustainable research in the field of chemistry. The challenge aims to promote projects that offer environmentally friendly and sustainable processes, products and resources applicable for use in developing countries. Nearly 500 submissions were rated by an international jury, and five finalists presented their projects on Monday during the Green and Sustainable Chemistry Conference in Berlin.

The winners are Yunsang Kim from the University of Georgia, USA, and Suzana Yusup from the Universiti Teknologi Petronas, Malaysia.

Yunsang Kim was awarded a prize of € 50,000. He convinced the jury with his project "Sustainable Textile Dyeing using Nanocellulosic Fibers". Kim developed an innovative textile dyeing technology using Nanocellulosic fiber, which will greatly reduce generations of wastewater and release of toxic chemicals in textile dyeing process.

The second prize worth € 25,000 has been awarded to the project "Biopesticide for Improvement of Paddy Yield" of Suzana Yusup. Her project demonstrates how a unique combination of different plant extracts can be used to develop a water-based bio-pesticide. The team aims to assess the advantages of this synthesized bio-pesticide against the commercial bio-pesticide on paddy fields. 

"I am really happy and overwhelmed in winning this prize," says Yunsang Kim from the University of Georgia, USA. "I feel responsible now for developing this project to the next stage and I will do my best for that. I want to thank Elsevier and the jury members for this Green and Sustainable Chemistry award."

"In recent years, research on green chemistry has increased tremendously, yet research is still scattered and awareness of its importance is low," says Prof. Dr. Klaus Kümmerer, Director of the Institute of Sustainable and Environmental Chemistry at Leuphana University and member of the judging panel. "This is why Leuphana and Elsevier launched this challenge and organized the conference. With our initiatives we want to bring experts and communities together in order to foster exchange and jointly develop solutions for the environmental challenges we are facing."

"Sustainability is a topic that affects us all. Developed as well as developing countries have to rethink their industrial culture and assume responsibility for their ecological footprint", says Philippe Terheggen PhD, Managing Director at Elsevier. "It is evident that chemistry can contribute significantly to a sustainable future. Through our publications and reports like Sustainability Science in a Global Landscape, we aim to make a positive environmental impact by sharing best practices, encourage debate and support researchers and decision makers. Next to our close partnership with Leuphana University, Elsevier will further continue this exchange with the launch of a new journal: Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry, which will provide expert views on current advances in Green and Sustainable Chemistry in the form of short review articles."

For further information about the Green Chemistry Challenge, read more on Elsevier Connect, visit the Green and Sustainable Chemistry Challenge website, watch this short video clip about the challenge, or join the conversation on social media: @ELSchemistry and #GreenChemChallenge. 

About Leuphana University 

Leuphana University of Lüneburg addresses the future of social commitment to civil society in the 21st century. Culture, sustainability, entrepreneurship, and education are the four thematic focuses in research and teaching. The Leuphana College is the place for Undergraduate studies and offers students a diversely integrated, interdisciplinary bachelor's program. At the Graduate School students can choose from various master's programs with possibilities for interdisciplinary specialization. The Professional School offers a wide range of continuing education programs.

More than 9,000 students are currently enrolled at Leuphana. Nearly 750 of the 1,200 staff members are academics, 155 of them professors.

About Elsevier 

Elsevier is a world-leading provider of information solutions that enhance the performance of science, health, and technology professionals, empowering them to make better decisions, deliver better care, and sometimes make groundbreaking discoveries that advance the boundaries of knowledge and human progress. Elsevier provides web-based, digital solutions - among them ScienceDirect, Scopus, Elsevier Research Intelligence and ClinicalKey - and publishes nearly 2,200 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and over 33,000 book titles, including a number of iconic reference works. Elsevier is part of RELX Group, a world-leading provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries. http://www.elsevier.com

Media contacts
Henning Zühlsdorff
Leuphana Universität Lüneburg
+49-4131-677-1007
henning.zuehlsdorff@leuphana.de

Aileen Fennell Christensen
Elsevier
+31-20-485-2053
a.christensen@elsevier.com

SOURCE Elsevier