WILMINGTON, Del., Aug. 31, 2015 -- The 2015 Winthrop-Sears Medal for entrepreneurial achievement was awarded to Dr. Mario Nappa of Chemours by The Chemists' Club, sponsor of the medal which has been awarded annually since 1970. The medal will be presented to Dr. Nappa at The Chemists' Club's 118th annual Egg Nog dinner on December 10 at the New York Academy of Sciences.
Since originally joining DuPont in 1981, Dr. Nappa has been an inventor on 140 patents and has received numerous medals and awards such as the Bolton-Carothers Award, The Pedersen Medal, the Lavoisier Medal for technical achievement, The Stefanie Kwolek Inventor Award, and an Engineering Excellence award. Dr. Nappa received his B.A. from Rutgers College and his Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from Rutgers University. He was also a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Chicago before joining DuPont. He is currently a Chemours Fellow responsible for developing the company's fluorine based R&D product portfolio. Chemours is a new company created through the spin-off of the DuPont Performance Chemicals businesses.
Dr. Nappa has an extraordinary track record of chemical inventiveness, problem solving and networking during his 34 year career at DuPont and now Chemours. His innovations have been instrumental in many improvements in refrigerants science, including major advances in sustainability.
Most notably, Dr. Nappa was the lead chemist in process development for the refrigerant HFO1234yf and foam expansion agent HFO-1336mzz(Z). These products have since been commercialized by Chemours as Opteon™ refrigerants and Formacel™ 1100 foam expansion agents, and are considered critical to their respective industries due to the increasing regulation of global warming potential properties. In total, these products are projected to reduce greenhouse gas content of refrigerants by some 245 million tons CO2 equivalent worldwide by 2025, while also providing the optimal balance of performance, environmental sustainability, safety and cost.
“As a company, Chemours is dedicated to helping create a more colorful, capable and cleaner world through the power of chemistry” said Thierry F.J. Vanlancker, president, Chemours Fluoroproducts. “Dr. Nappa’s achievements throughout his career exemplify these values, as he has been a driving force in the transformation of the Chemours product portfolio to a suite of environmentally sustainable products.”
Dr. Nappa also has contributed to technology packages for commercialization and has developed many approaches for process optimization, including advanced density functional theory molecular orbital calculations to understand the fundamental thermodynamics and reaction kinetics. He has been a key person in the successful entrepreneurial development of many of the major fluorochemical processes that have been commercialized in the last 20 years. Early in his career, Dr. Nappa played a role in the development of at least seven different hydrofluorocarbons introduced as a result of the phase-out of CFCs in the mid-1990s. In addition to new molecule development, Dr. Nappa has participated in commercialization teams and is often a key resource
in troubleshooting commercial catalyst manufacturing problems for the majority of fluorochemical products offered by Chemours.
About The Chemists' Club
Now completing its 118th year, The Chemists' Club is a non-profit organization whose members share an interest in the sciences with strong roots in the chemical process industries including: pharmaceuticals, fragrances, paper, cosmetics, metals, petrochemicals and other sciences. Membership is open to anyone who has an interest in these industries including: chemists, engineers, security analysts, attorneys, investment bankers, consultants and others. The Club recently opened chapters (dues free) on college campuses to assist students in preparing for their careers and making informed career decisions. For more information on The Chemists’ Club, please go to www.thechemistsclub.com.
About The Chemours Company
The Chemours Company helps create a colorful, capable and cleaner world through the power of chemistry. Chemours is a global leader in titanium technologies, fluoroproducts and chemical solutions, providing its customers with solutions in a wide range of industries with market-defining products, application expertise, and chemistry-based innovations. Chemours ingredients are found in plastics and coatings, refrigeration and air conditioning, mining and oil refining operations and general industrial manufacturing. Our flagship products include prominent brands such as Teflon™, Ti-Pure™, Krytox™ Viton™, Opteon™ and Nafion™. Chemours has approximately 9,000 employees across 37 manufacturing sites serving more than 5,000 customers in North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and Europe. Chemours is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware and is listed on the NYSE under the symbol CC. For more information, please visit chemours.com or follow Chemours on Twitter at @chemours.
Forward-Looking Statements
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CONTACT:
Andrew Abloeser
Global Marketing Communications Consultant Chemours Fluoroproducts
302-773-4502
[email protected]