The International Scientific Jury of the PhosAgro/UNESCO/IUPAC Partnership in Green Chemistry for Life has announced seven recipients of the 2019 grants programme. The grants aim to provide support for green chemistry solutions and to encourage the elaboration by young scientists of projects that focus on the designing of sustainable products and processes that minimize or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances. One of the grants provides support for a research project on the use of phosphogypsum, a by-product generated in great quantities when producing phosphoric acid and phosphate fertilizers.
The 2019 grants are awarded to the following young scientists:
2019 Green Chemistry for Life grants
Dr Sara Abdel Hamid Abdel Gaber
Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafrelsheikh – Egypt
For the project: Phytomediated Green Synthesis of Magnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for Biomedical Applications
Dr Jesús Campos Manzano
Institute for Chemical Research (IIQ), CSIC-University of Sevilla, Seville – Spain
For the project: Tandem Catalysis for Plastic Degradation
Dr María Antonieta Fernández-Herrera
Laboratory of Biomolecules and Biomaterials, Department of Applied Physics, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados, Unidad Mérida, Merida, Yucatan – Mexico
For the project: Development of plant growth regulators for habanero pepper from Yucatan Peninsula through an eco-friendly chemical transformation of steroidal sapogenins
Dr Galina Kalashnikova
Nanomaterials Research Centre of the Federal Research Centre “Kola Science Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences” (FRC KSC RAS), Apatity, Murmansk Region – Russian Federation
For the project: The development of a universal and green method for the granulation of synthetic titanosilicate materials (sorbents, catalysts, recoverable matrices) created based on end-product waste from regional ore-enrichment and metallurgical plants
Dr Wilbert Mtangi
Institute of Materials Science, Processing and Engineering Technology, Chinhoyi University of Technology, Chinhoyi – Zimbabwe
For the project: Hydrogen generation using chiral photoelectrodes for water splitting
Dr Abu Ashfaqur Sajib
Laboratory of Molecular Biotechnology, Department of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka – Bangladesh
For the project: Novel multifunctional enzyme for biofuel production from lignocellulosic wastes
2019 Green Chemistry special grant for research projects on Phosphogypsum
Dr Hamdy Hefny
Central Metallurgical Research and Development Institute (CMRDI), Helwan, Cairo – Egypt
For the project: Utilization of Phosphogypsum for Heavy Metals Immobilization in Contaminated Soil and Extraction of Useful Materials
The formal award-giving ceremony was held in the framework of the World Science Day for Peace and Development 2019 that takes places at UNESCO headquarters in Paris (France) on 8 November.
LINK to UNESCO announcement (release 23 Oct 2019)
Announcement published in Chem Int Apr 2020, p. 24
Link to originating call