Cooperation with industry

The Faculty of Chemical Technology at the University of Pardubice is not only an educational institution, but also an important scientific research centre providing specialist advisory, support and consultancy services as well as acting as an expert witness in a wide range of fields.

If you are interested in any of these services, please contact the Centre for Technology and Knowledge Transfer.

Deparment of General and Inorganic Chemistry

• Methodology for synthesis of common and special inorganic materials;
• Preparation and identification of organic and organometallic compounds, properties and structure of these compounds;
• Methodology for preparation of single crystals and amorphous materials;
• Chalcogenide, chalcogenide-halogen and halogen glasses and amorphous layers;
• Synthesis and relationships between the structure and dynamic properties of complex and organometallic compounds;
• Determination of the total structure of compounds in monocrystalline state;
• Measurement of the Raman spectra of solid and liquid samples including analysis of the heterogeneous phases of solid samples using Raman microscopy;
• Acquisition of transmission IR spectra in the region of 7,500–50 cm^-1 from solid, liquid and gas samples at laboratory temperature;
• X-ray diffraction analysis of powdered polycrystalline materials;
• Determination of the specific surface area of powdered materials;
• Measurement of ESR spectra of liquid and solid samples in the temperature range 100-530 K;
• Electron microscopy – photographs of sample surfaces in secondary (SE) and backscattered (BSE) electrons, qualitative and quantitative spot analysis of inorganic substances (boron – uranium).

Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology

• Synthesis of new organic compounds – chemical structure and reactivity, biological activity and chemical, biological, physical and technical properties;
• Reaction mechanisms of organic compounds using the tools and methods of reaction kinetics;
• Enantioselective catalysis leading to the preparation of optically pure chiral compounds;
• Synthesis and technology for modification of dyes and luminophores;
• Technological research in the field of fine chemical intermediates and pharmaceuticals;
• Functionalised polymers and biopolymers intended for biomimetic and medical applications;
• Preparative photochemistry of organic substances and study of photochemical reactions;
• Research, development and synthesis of phosgene-based specialties;
• Determination of C, H, N, S and organically bound chlorine, bromine or iodine in chemical individuals, mixtures of organic substances and organic materials;
• Measurement of NMR spectra.

Department of Analytical Chemistry

• Analysis of organic and inorganic compounds;
• Elaboration of analytical procedures for analysis of various materials, water, soil and air samples;
• Determination of energetic materials and their precursors,
• Determination of foods and food supplements from the point of view of the presence of common ingredients, but also from the point of view of trace or toxicological analysis;
• Function testing of analytical instruments, chromatographic columns and equipment;
• Analysis of organic substances using gas chromatography with mass spectroscopy, headspace sampling;
• Analysis of petroleum products and oil pollution;
• Purity control and quantitative analysis of organic substances in various materials using high-performance liquid chromatography;
• Multidimensional liquid chromatography;
• Analysis of ionic substances using electrophoretic methods.

Department of Physical Chemistry

• Kinetics of heterogeneously catalysed reactions in the gaseous phase including the characteristics of oxide and zeolite catalysts;
• Transesterification of vegetable oils and animal fats to biofuel using homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis and processing of by-products;
• Chemical analysis of raw materials, intermediates and products in production of biodiesel from vegetable oils according to the EN 14214:2003 standard;
• Enzymatic catalysis, novel enzyme hydrolysis inhibitors as potential drugs for Alzheimer’s disease;
• Structural relaxation of non-crystalline materials and kinetics of crystallisation in strongly supercooled glass-forming liquids;
• Measurement of the adsorption equilibrium and determination of the specific surface area of solids using the BET method;
• Measurement of physicochemical parameters – viscosity, density, vapour pressure and surface tension, dissolution heat;
• Measurement of IR spectra of gases, liquids and solids;
• Adsorption and acid-base properties of solid surfaces;
• Measurement of the temperature dependence of coefficients of expansion of solids, viscosities of supercooled liquids (10^-1 < h < 10¹³ Pa⋅s), glass transformation and crystallisation of non-crystalline materials.

Institute of Environmental and Chemical Engineering

Department of Chemical Engineering

• Membrane separation processes – micro- and ultrafiltration, nanofiltration and reverse osmosis, diffusion dialysis and electrodialysis;
• Applied rheology – flow of Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids, rheometry of non-Newtonian fluids;
• Industrial wastewater treatment – physical, chemical and anaerobic processes;
• Measurement of the size distribution and zeta potential of particles dispersed in both polar and non-polar solvents.

Department of Environment Protection

• Determination of basic quality indicators for groundwater, surface water, precipitation, drinking water and some types of wastewaters;
• Elemental analysis of a wide range of materials (all environmental components, food, pure chemicals, semiconductors, metal alloys, plastics, ....) – ICP-OES, oaTOF-ICP-MS and AAS;
• Rapid non-destructive qualitative analysis of the elemental composition of materials from Mg to U using X-ray fluorescence analysis methods. Comparison of material compliance, analysis of local defects in materials;
• Rapid non-destructive analysis of precious metal alloys;
• RoHS analysis;
• Evaluation of remote sensing data – surface type classification, change detection, pollution analysis.

Institute of Applied Physics and Mathematics

• Thermoelectric properties of solids;
• Spectroscopic ellipsometry;
• Thermo-mechanical behaviour of building materials and heat transfer in building structures;
• Measurement of physical properties at high pressure;
• Measurement and analysis of the optical properties of thin films and multilayers;
• Pressing / sintering of materials at high temperatures and pressures (2,000 °C / 150 MPa),
• Measurement of temperature and thermal conductivities (20–1,000 °C),
• Synthesis of materials with a high melting point, pulling of single crystals;
• Measurement and analysis of the optical properties of thin films and multilayers;
• Assessment of indoor environment and indoor air quality.

Department of Economy and Management of Chemical and Food Industry

• Strategic marketing analysis and planning;
• Quality management and environmentally oriented management;
• Financial analysis, financial planning and financial controlling;
• Economic assessment of investment projects;
• Cost controlling;
• Corporate environmental accounting.

Department of Inorganic Technology

• Inorganic pigments and powder materials – development of new high-temperature pigments for ceramics, anti-corrosive, environmentally friendly pigments;
• Industrial fertilisers – new types of slow-release fertilisers, improvement of the properties of granular fertilisers, fertilisers for special purposes;
• Inorganic analysis – development of new analytical methods for quality control of inorganic materials and products in the chemical industry;
• Determination of the specific heat of liquids and solids;
• Determination of phase transformation temperatures;
• Determination of changes in structure and composition of materials in relation to temperature;
• Physical properties of gases and liquids (compressibility and expansion);
• Phase transformations in relation to pressure in gas-liquid-solid systems;
• Measurement of particle size distribution of powder materials on a Mastersizer 2000MU device;
• Objective colour measurement on a ColorQuest XE device;
• Determination of pigment-application properties of powder substances.

Institute of Chemistry and Technology of Macromolecular Materials

Department of Paints and Organic Coatings

• Research on coatings as composite materials (base binder, pigment, filler);
• Mechanisms of action of corrosion inhibitors for protection of metallic materials and synthesis of eco-friendly and highly effective anti-corrosion pigments;
• Creation of inorganic-organic layers, nanomaterials and geopolymers;
• Scanning electron microscopy.

Department of Synthetic Polymers, Fibres and Textile Chemistry

• Physical-mechanical testing room for plastics, composite and textile materials;
• Mechanisms of polymerisation reactions with a focus on emulsion and solution polymerisation;
• Research on polycondensation and polyaddition resins, solution and dispersion systems (synthetic latexes) and their applications in plastics and coatings;
• Materials research in the field of composites;
• Development of dye intermediates and disperse dyes based on heterocyclic components;
• Development of dyeing auxiliaries;
• Development of new ways to prepare fibres from biopolymers – conventional fibres, micro- and nanofibers;
• Biodegradable self-sequestering surfactants for detergents and for the textile industry;
• Fungicidal and antimicrobial treatments of textile materials, evaluation of treatment effectiveness;
• Microencapsulation into liposome systems.

Department of Biological and Biochemical Sciences

• Immunology and immunochemistry – biochemistry of proteins, glycoproteins, structure of immunoglobulins in relation to autoimmune diseases, post-translational modification of proteins, peptide mapping techniques, bioaffinity chromatography, SDS-PAGE electrophoresis, HPLC, ion-exchange chromatography, gel permeation chromatography;
• Clinical biochemistry – the relationship between plasma levels of selected substances and prognosis of patients with cardiovascular disease, determination of clinically relevant substances in biological material (blood, plasma, urine and seminal plasma) using liquid chromatography methods;
• Physiology and pathological physiology – the role of oxidative stress and inflammation in the development of coronary heart disease;
• Molecular biology - detection and typing of mycoplasmas and ureaplasmas in biological material;
• Clinical microbiology – the effectiveness of natural substances on selected bacterial species, study of the occurrence of microorganisms in semen and their effect on sperm quality;
• Food microbiology – occurrence and determination of so-called novel pathogens in food, technologically harmful microorganisms;
• Measurement of cholinesterase inhibition by chemical pollutants;
• Clinical significance and HPLC determination of serum or plasma levels of homocysteine, cysteine and other total and free aminothiols, lipoic acid, coenzyme Q10 and antioxidant vitamins;
• Determination of the susceptibility of microorganisms to antibacterial drugs;
• Laboratory diagnostics of causal agents of infectious human and animal diseases;
• Detection of common conditionally pathogenic and pathogenic microorganisms in biological material and determination of antibiotic susceptibility of isolated strains;
• Methods for determination of the presence and number of all micro-organisms or selected types monitored using the applicable ISO standards in foodstuffs;
• Microbiological analysis of drinking water (according to the applicable standards);
• Detection of certain pathogens in foodstuffs, in particular those determination of which is not yet routinely performed;
• Detection or determination of SE and mycotoxins;
• Bioaffinity chromatography with a focus on immunoaffinity chromatography;
• Immunochemical methods and immunoelectrophoresis;
• Determination of glutathione concentration (photometric and fluorimetric method);
• Determination of glutathione reductase and glutathione-S-transferase activity;
• Determination of ROS production;
• Spectrofluorimetric analysis.

Department of Graphic Arts and Photophysics

• Photochemical systems for UV curable inks and varnishes;
• Special polymeric materials and dyes;
• Surface properties of printed materials and prints (surface roughness and surface tension);
• Special pigments for security printing (thermochromic, photochromic, optically variable and multifunctional);
• Electrically conductive printing inks for applications in sensor function and radio frequency identification of goods;
• Application of computer image analysis methods using a CCD camera and optical microscope for quality assessment of reproduction printing processes;
• Research on colorimetric systems and colour spaces;
• Assessment of the quality of printing and finishing of printed matter, measurement and assessment of the properties of printing materials;
• Measurement of the surface tension of liquids and solids;
• Offset two-colour and multi-colour printing including finishing (V1, V2 and V3 binding, booklet and block-bound brochure – sewn and glued, thermal binding and ring binding);
• Manual screen printing;
• Large format colour printing (maximum print width 115 cm) e.g. posters;
• Training for Quickmaster (Printmaster) QM 46-2 and Polly 266 AH printing machines.

Institute of Energetic Materials

• Chemical-technological activities – chemistry and technology of energetic nitrogen compounds, technology of industrial and military explosives, technology of propellants, technology of pyrotechnic products and incendiaries, use or disposal of demilitarised explosives;
• Safety Engineering (Loss Prevention) – risk analysis and safety of chemical technologies, quantitative risk analysis, consequence analysis and lessons learned from industrial accidents;
• Industrial blasting applications – forming, welding and strengthening of metals by blasting or pressing of powdered materials using special types of explosives;
• Explosives analytics – thermal analysis – analysis of chemical compounds and their mixtures from the point of view of the impact of their composition, impurities and solvents on their bilateral reactivity, compatibility and stability during thermal exposure;
• Calculations of the consequences of industrial accidents such as pool fire, jet and flare fire, boiling liquid expanding vapour explosion (BLEVE), unconfined vapour cloud explosion, internal explosion (in equipment and buildings), physical explosion and dispersion explosions;
• Calculations of air pollution or contamination ranges for neutrally and positively buoyant and heavier-than-air substances;
• Industrial applications of explosives and explosive processes;        
• Assessment of the stability, compatibility or thermal degradation of energetic materials and designing of a way to test them;
• Adverse event investigation, analysis of direct and root causes;
• Implementation and use of hazard assessment techniques (HAZOP etc.).