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Des Solutio – Scientific Consulting Solutions Lda. is a NOVA University spin-off company that arises from the need to respond to several requests for scientific advice in research and development, in the field of green chemistry and sustainable development, namely through the use of a new generation of solvents known as eutectic solvents (DES – Deep Eutectic Systems).
Mission & Vision
Our mission is to offer integrated consulting services that contribute to the development of value-added products for our customers.
DES Solutio intends to establish its presence in the international context as a reference company in the area of eutectic solvents and intends to be the first to market these natural-based solvents for research and development.
We intend to value the knowledge generated in academia, promoting the bridge between research and industry and streamlining marketing processes. It is also the company’s objective, in collaboration with other research centers, to contract research and development services at a laboratory level that may be required by the companies that contact us.
We envision a greener and more sustainable future, where the toxic solvents used in the majority of processes could be replaced by natural alternatives.
Social Responsibility
Des Solutio conducts its business in a transparent and ethical manner, being concerned with social, cultural, economic and environmental issues. Through its work, the company intends to have a positive impact on society, in order to achieve sustainability in all its activities, and a positive impact on the planet, due to the aim of globalizing the use of natural solvents in several areas. In addition, there is a concern about people and their well-being, through proper and fair operating practices.
Nature is the most plentiful source of compounds. Many of these compounds (vitamins, phenols, flavonoids, antioxidants) have been used in different applications for long time, namely for nutritional, cosmetic or pharmaceutical purposes, where the main extraction process was commonly based on the use of organic solvents. The problem is that these solvents have a harmful effect on health and environment, due to its toxicity. In this context, safety regulations are getting tighter and companies are looking for “greener” alternatives, while consumers demand for organic products.
Des Solutio aims to explore natural solvents bio-inspired in nature – the natural Deep Eutectic Solvents (NADES). These are mixtures of two or more naturally occurring chemical components that, when combined at a particular molar ratio, become liquid at room temperature. Nearly 106 combinations of natural DES could be envisaged and the possibilities that arise from the ability to tailor new solvents with the most adequate properties for a given application are huge.
Des Solutio’s team has built over time a set of DES libraries where each DES is targeted to a particular application. The company is focused in the development of new NADES for:
If your company is interested in any of these applications and would like to discuss the feasibility of process implementation, please contact us.
Des Solutio provides, at a regular basis, hands-on courses, workshops and online seminars.
Alexandre Paiva is the Chief Executive Officer of DES Solutio Lda. He obtained a degree in Chemical Engineering from the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, in Portugal, in 2001, and a PhD in Chemical Engineering – Thermodynamics and Biocatalysis from the Technische Universität Hamburg, in Germany, in 2008.
From 2010 to 2012, he was a part-time professor at the Instituto Piaget. From 2009 to 2016 he was a Post-doc researcher at REQUIMTE, a non-profit scientific organization, working on the “Biodiesel production from green sources using supercritical technology” project. Since 2016, he is a senior researcher at LAQV@REQUIMTE.
Alexandre Paiva has more than 30 papers in international scientific peer-reviewed journals. His main areas of expertise are sub-, supercritical fluids, biocatalysis, deep eutectic solvents and the application of these solvents in the valorization of agro-industrial by-products. He is/was involved in 1 Marie Curie project, and 4 scientific projects financed by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, being the principal investigator in 2 of those projects. He is/was also involved in 4 projects in collaboration with Portuguese and international companies. He has been awarded the 2nd place on the National entrepreneurship challenge E-Teams and also the 2nd place on the European entrepreneurship challenge Energy2B. He is the main supervisor of 4 PhDs and the co-supervisor of 2 more, and is/was the supervisor of more than 20 Master degree thesis.
Ana Rita C. Duarte is the Chief Scientific Officer of Des Solutio. She has been involved in different entrepreneuship programs, such as the COHiTEC program in 2005. In 2010, she was invited to join the Coordination of the Porto Edition of COHiTEC Program, COTEC Portugal’s Technology Commercialization Training Program at Porto Business School, where she was responsible for project development, pipeline and training for the Technology Commercialization Accelerator (Act). She also enrolled in the Boston Global Innovation – ISCTE-MIT Program held in Lisbon, Portugal and in the Boston Immersion Program held in Boston, MA, USA. In 2015, as part of the team of the project HydrUStent, Ana Rita won the Novo Banco Innovation Award, one of the major innovations awards in Portugal, and, in 2016, she co-founded the start-up HydrUStent. Ana Rita C. Duarte has been invited by the Portuguese government as the CEO of HydrUStent to participate at the 2016 WebSummit as one of the most promising start-ups in Portugal.
Ana Rita C. Duarte main areas of expertise are deep eutectic solvents, particularly on the development of bioactive and/or therapeutic deep eutectic solvents, supercritical fluid technology for the development of controlled release systems, and polymer processing for medical devices.
In the ambit of BfK RISE Program, promoted by ANI, yesterday, Des Solutio participated in the Demo Day (Alentejo edition) final event. During 3 months the team had intensive training and mentoring to take a new DES-based product to the market: ImproVITA – a natural solution to increase the shelf-life of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables. […]
Des Solutio was present at the virtual kick-off meeting of PRISAR-2 on April 22nd. This project received funding from the H2020 under Marie Sklodowska-Curie research and innovation programme. It is a network of 25 partners from 8 different countries. The role of Des Solutio is to design NADES for the delivery of small molecules.
DES show great potential to be applied in several different areas: chemistry, electrochemistry, biotechnology, health & pharma, cosmetics or paper industry. Do you want to learn more about it? Target audience: Industry professionals, Academia Contact: info@dessolutio.com
30 October 2018 Frontier IP, a specialist in commercialising university intellectual property, today announces it is taking a 25 per cent. stake in Des Solutio (the “Company”), a company developing safer and greener alternatives to the chemicals currently used to make beauty, pharmaceutical, personal care and other products. The Company has been established to […]