Enhancing Safety

Approaches to chemical safety assessment aim to enable scientifically sound and data-based regulatory decisions. The process consists of qualitative as well as quantitative components, generally structured in for steps: Identification of human and/or environmental hazards, evaluation of the dose or concentration / response relationship by deriving an DNEL or PNEC value, exposure assessment by deriving a PEC value, and risk characterization.

Due to our comprehensive expertise, we are able to generate and evaluate data for chemicals, nanomaterials, fibres and complex mixtures to be found at the workplace, in the environment and in consumer products. Based on our core competences we offer the basis for decision-making to reduce potential risks and enable safe handling of chemicals.

Our research projects contribute to new test and assessment strategies by advancing and improving risk assessment methods, finally minimizing necessary studies, especially animal tests. Examples are structure-activity relationships ((Q)SAR), non-vertebrate test methods, grouping approaches like read-across, setup of data bases and the advancement of the TTC concept.

A circular economy using recyclates as basic material for consumer products implies new risks for human and environmental health, since recyclates may constitute of unknown mixtures of substances, contaminants adsorbed during their previous life cycle(s), and transformation products caused by recyclate processing. For product safety assessment we develop non-target screening approaches to characterise and reduce risks.

Optimum safety in chemical processes

In addition to questions relating to the human and ecotoxicological safety of chemicals and the resulting regulatory issues, we conduct research and development in the field of chemical process safety.

We have special expertise and infrastructure for the safety-related design, characterisation and implementation of hazardous, explosive and toxic processes. We develop processes that enable the safe production and realisation of highly reactive synthetic building blocks that can be used, for example, to produce highly atomically efficient secondary products.

Comprehensive characterization techniques are available to compile all relevant safety and performance data of potentially hazardous reactions. These include thermal stability, mechanical stability, friction and impact sensitivity, chemical stability and compatibility, self-heating and autocatalytic decomposition, aging behavior and long-term stability. Knowledge of these data is essential to ensure the safe production and processing of hazardous materials.

We provide our customers and project partners with rapid and comprehensive R&D services in the field of chemical process safety. We offer feasibility studies, targeted analysis of individual process steps, process development and process optimization services as well as detailed safety investigations. We develop tailored process safety concepts for customer-specific tasks in all areas from laboratory to production scale.