BATTELLE'S HERMAN BENECKE TO RECEIVE SOYBEAN CHEMISTRY AWARD

beneckeHonor from the American Oil Chemists' Society 

 

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Herman Benecke, one of Battelle’s premier scientists, has been chosen to  receive the 2010 Industrial Uses of Soybean Oil Award by the American Oil Chemists’ Society. Benecke, who specializes in the conversion of soybean oil and meal for various industrial products, will be given the award May 17 at the Society’s annual meeting in Phoenix. The award is presented by the Society’s Industrial Oil Products Division and is sponsored by the United Soybean Board.

 

Since coming to Battelle in 1980, Benecke has been awarded 14 patents, many of which deal with the use of soybean and other vegetable oils to formulate products varying from flexible and rigid foams to more environmentally friendly and healthier plasticizers for the manufacture of PVC flexible tubing, children’s toys, vinyl flooring and other products.

 

“This award is really for my Battelle team that has pioneered so many of these discoveries,” Benecke said.

 

Benecke directed research teams that were recognized by R&D Magazine for discoveries that made the magazine’s annual list of the 100 top scientific discoveries in 2002 and 2007 for the development of biobased plasticizers and biobased polyols respectively. He was a member of the research team that made R&D’s 2003 list for biobased deinkable toners. The team also received a Presidential Green Chemistry Award in 2008 for deinkable toners. In 1999, Benecke received Battelle’s Inventor of the Year Award as well as the  President’s Award.

 

Benecke, a research leader in Advanced Materials Applications, continues to improve the synthesis of biobased polyols used to prepare flexible and rigid foams.  He also currently directs Battelle’s research programs to develop soybean oil-based lubricants and hydraulic fluids and to use soybean meal to manufacture hydrogels.

 

Before moving to oil-based chemistry, Benecke specialized in the synthesis of drugs and analytical reagents and in the design and improvement of industrial chemical processes.  One example is the development of an efficient process to convert lactic acid to the key intermediate used to prepare polylactic acid (PLA), a leading biobased and versatile polyester.


Benecke has a B.S. degree in chemistry from the University of Florida and a Ph.D.in organic chemistry from the University of Cincinnati. He also worked as a post-doctoral researcher at Ohio State University.

 

As the world’s largest, independent research and development organization, Battelle provides innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing needs through its four global businesses:  Laboratory Management, National Security, Energy Technology, and Health and Life Sciences.  It advances scientific discovery and application by conducting $5.6 billion in global R&D annually through contract research, laboratory management and technology commercialization.  Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Battelle oversees 20,400 employees in more than 130 locations worldwide, including seven national laboratories which Battelle manages or co-manages for the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and two international laboratories—a nuclear energy lab in the United Kingdom and a renewable energy lab in Malaysia.

                                                                           
Media contacts: 

Katy Delaney at (614) 424-7208, delaneyk@battelle.org, or
T.R. Massey at (614) 424-5544, masseytr@battelle.org.