The cleaning industry has long been focused on the concept of contact time. But what happens between cleanings? This question grows increasingly pertinent as we navigate both labor shortages and heightened expectations of cleanliness and safety from customers, guests, and patients.
A potential part of the solution lies in long-lasting disinfection technology.
In this episode, we talk with Jay Denktash and Amit Sehgal from Solvay about the science underpinning long-lasting surface disinfection.
This concept isn’t new. Scientists have been exploring it since the late 1990s, achieving some success. The industry has managed to produce long-lasting disinfectants, but their user experience often left much to be desired. They might emit a strong odor, leave a sticky residue, or simply be difficult to use.
When Solvay took on this challenge, they placed a high priority on aesthetics. To truly succeed, they needed to create a product that was both effective and appealing to end-users.
Jay and Amit recount how Solvay harnessed its extensive range of over 2,000 surfactants and polymers, applying its vast expertise to overcome usability issues and develop the innovative Actizone® technology.
The task of creating a product that both cleans effectively and lasts a long time is monumental, and the science behind it is FASCINATING. Jay and Amit break it down in an easily understandable manner. I’m confident you’ll find it as enlightening as I did.
We also delve into how Solvay fostered an internal startup culture to nurture this innovation and discuss the challenges they faced in introducing such a novel product to the market – a process supported by the TIPS Science to Market program.
Jay Denktash
Global Business Development Manager (Solvay-Novecare)
Jay Denktash currently manages the Global Business Development for North America and Canada for Solvay. He comes with over 20 years of experience working in the cleaning and disinfection industry and is a Certified Registered Central Services Technician (CRCST). The majority of his career was spent working with large hospital systems, clinical epidemiologists and infection preventionist helping to set up best practices for cleaning and disinfection.
Amit Sehgal, Ph.D.
Manager – Phys Chem Cell & Principal Scientist & Technical Lead (Actizone) Solvay USA Inc. (Home and Personal Care)
Amit Sehgal is Manager of the Phys-Chem Cell, an advanced research group & the scientific lead for Actizone product design. Besides creating a novel platform as the lead inventor for long lasting antimicrobial control and disinfection technologies, he has advocated tirelessly for more than 5 years for the promise of residual disinfection in transforming public health.
As a polymer physical chemist and a chemical engineer, he has published more than 50 papers and book chapters, and received over 35 patents, and contributed to diverse areas ranging from nanomaterials, automotive coatings, green solvents and micro-emulsions in oil and gas, to the soil remediation market and mild surfactant platforms for the homecare-industrial-institutional (HI&I) segments.
He has also served as the Sustainable Chemistry lead from Solvay, as co-chair of the Chemical Manufacturers’ Roundtable (ChMR) at the American Chemicals Society – Green Chemistry Institute (ACS-GCI) dedicated to the integration of green chemistry and engineering in the chemical industry.
Solvay
Solvay is a science company whose technologies bring benefits to many aspects of daily life. Our purpose—we bond people, ideas and elements to reinvent progress—is a call to go beyond, to reinvent future forms of progress and create sustainable shared value for all through the power of science. In a world facing an ever-growing population and quest for resources, we aim to be the driving force triggering the next breakthroughs to enable humanity to advance while protecting the planet we all share.
Learn more: https://www.solvay.com/en/brands/actizone-disinfection-that-lasts
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