Wageningen students win Holland Chemistry Student Competition 2019

Team NanopLESStic, that are Laura Akkerman, Ezra Bekkering, and Dorien Westert, all Molecular Life Sciences students at Wageningen University, won the 2019 Holland Chemistry Student competition organized by the topsector chemistry and NWO. They convinced the jury with their idea for a filter material to remove nanoplastic from water.

In the summer, Laura, Ezra, and Dorien, worked in the labs of the Organic Chemistry (ORC) and Biobased Chemistry & Technology (BCT) to develop their idea. At the annual Dutch chemistry meeting CHAINS, their efforts were rewared with the first prize. During the project, NanopLESStic was jointly supervised by dr. Maarten Smulders, dr. Louis de Smet (both ORC), and dr. Elinor Scott (BCT). Further support of the project came from KWR, Royal HaskoningDHV, and Wetsus.