Humify – superfood for the soil

Fighting climate change with green chemistry: The start-up Humify has developed a technology that can reactivate soil as a carbon sink

05-Aug-2025 - Hot and humid temperatures, no light, no air and then that intense odour: when the high-pressure cooker is fired up in the start-up Humify's laboratory, it is hard to imagine that under such conditions the resulting product – a kind of black liquid sludge – could help to influence climate change ...

Potential for significant defossilisation of the chemical industry using biomass

Study Confirms Biomass Can Meet 20% of Carbon Demand in Chemicals Sector by 2050 without compromising food and feed supply

21-Feb-2025 - A new study commissioned by the Renewable Carbon Initiative (RCI) and the Biobased Industries Consortium (BIC) reveals that meeting 20% of the total global carbon demand of the chemicals and derived materials sector by 2050 from biomass is achievable and sustainable. This key finding highlights ...

Don’t burst that bubble: research explores nanobubble stability

Research is advancing knowledge about why nanobubbles don’t burst in a solution, which has real-world applications ranging from batteries to agriculture

03-Jan-2025 - Gases are essential for many chemical reactions, and bubbles are one way for these gases to be held in solution. When compared to larger bubbles, nanobubbles have increased stability—meaning that they can remain in a solution longer without popping. Due to their increased stability, they allow ...

Microbes could help reduce the need for chemical fertilizers

A coating protects nitrogen-fixing bacteria: Start-up to commercialise coated bacteria for large-scale use in regenerative agriculture

21-Nov-2023 - Production of chemical fertilizers accounts for about 1.5 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. MIT chemists hope to help reduce that carbon footprint by replacing some chemical fertilizer with a more sustainable source — bacteria. Bacteria that can convert nitrogen gas to ammonia ...

The weight of pollution: exposure linked to obesity

Chronic exposure to environmental pollutants found to increase risk of cardiovascular disease

08-Nov-2023 - In an era where exposure to commonly used pollutants present in our environment, in our homes and in our food, is virtually inevitable, ground-breaking research conducted by Professor Brice Appenzeller of the Luxembourg Institute of Health has unveiled a profoundly surprising health outcome of ...

Startups with patents and trade marks are 10 times more successful in securing funding

Biotechnology sector leads in the use of patents and trade marks, with nearly half of the sector’s startups seeking these essential rights

19-Oct-2023 - the European Patent Office (EPO) and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) have published a new joint study highlighting how much patents and trade marks can boost the success of European startups. The report shows that, on average, startups that possess these two types of ...

Promoting impact investment in Sustainable Chemistry innovations

Indian Start-up wins ISC3 Innovation Challenge

12-Oct-2023 - What does it take to establish and maintain sustainability as a measurable value for companies? What conditions need to be created for ideas in Sustainable Chemistry to flourish? And which start-ups worldwide promise the greatest impact in this field with their innovations? These and other ...

How can the use of plastics in agriculture become more sustainable?

New study on plastic in our food systems

26-Sep-2023 - It is impossible to imagine modern agriculture without plastics. 12 million tonnes are used every year. But what about the consequences for the environment? An international team of authors led by Thilo Hofmann from the Division of Environmental Geosciences at the University of Vienna addresses ...

Insecticides affect aquatic insects in unexpected ways

24-Aug-2023 - Pesticide pollution of streams in agricultural areas has adverse effects for stream organisms. A new study, led by researchers from the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB), provides evidence that aquatic insect larvae respond to insecticide exposure with alterations of ...

Ready, set, here are the Changemakers!

The ISC3 has selected it's finalists for the Innovation Challenge in Sustainable Chemistry and Agriculture

27-Jul-2023 - The fourth ISC3 Innovation Challenge that called for innovations in the field of Sustainable Chemistry and Agriculture has it's finalists! The international jury of experts chose eight finalists from a large number of top-notch applications from five continents. This year, the International ...