About Us

What we do

Here at Sironix, we transform plants into high-performing chemicals, so your cleaning products perform better and do no harm to the environment. Check out our short video that was part of the Minnesota Cup startup competition.

What we’ve achieved: our Milestones

2014 Paul’s research laboratory at the University of Minnesota started researching functional properties of oleo-furans (OF).
2015 The first technology concepts and OF surfactant prototypes were developed and tested.
2016 A big moment: Christoph and Paul signed the founding documents for Sironix Renewables.
2017 Sironix started collaborating with researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
2018 Sironix has earned over $4.5M in development capital through grants and partnerships.
2019 Sironix has demonstrated proof-of-concept of its plant-based Eosix® surfactant for use in laundry detergents, and entered partnerships with eco-friendly detergency formulators.
2019 Time to celebrate! Sironix won the Global ICIS Innovation Award 2019 for "Best Innovation by a Small or Medium sized Enterprise". Sironix also brought home two Joint Development Agreements with Nouryon and Unilever from the 2019 Imagine Chemistry start-up challenge in Amsterdam.
2019 Such an honor - Sironix was selected as one of the "Next 50 Companies to Disrupt the World" by Biofuels Digest!
2020 A big milestone - Sironix' first patent was granted! A number of others have already been submitted and are being processed.
2021 Sironix closed its first financing round, providing for the scaling of its technology in a new and expanded research and production facility.

Meet our Team

2021_Christoph Kopie.png — Christoph KrumM

**CEO, Co-Founder**
Christoph co-founded and built Sironix Renewables after finishing graduate school, and was awarded with the AIChE Top 35 Under 35 for Innovation Award (2017) for his efforts. Though he oversees company operations, final say in all decisions goes to Chief Puppy Officer, Oatmeal.

Paul DauenHauer

**Co-Founder**
Paul co-founded Sironix Renewables, and his expertise on catalysis and reaction engineering of renewable feedstocks is priceless to our team. He is leading an academic laboratory, but secretly wishes to be a lifelong PhD student himself, to satisfy his curiosity about everything science and technology have to offer.

Dave Edwards

**CFO**
Dave brings a long history of helping companies grow including a wide range of renewables companies. His background includes multiple start-ups as well as larger companies like Apple, Morgan Stanley and SunPower. If you can’t reach him, he has likely disappeared into the mountains of Central Oregon.

2021_Shawn Kopie.png — Shawn Eady

**CTO**
Shawn has over 10 years of chemical synthesis and catalysis experience, which he uses to design eco-friendly surfactants that efficiently clean while finding new ways to keep our source materials green. When he isn't experimenting in lab, he is exploring new beer, kombucha, or soap recipes and hanging out with his dog, Pickles.

Gunzi Otgonjargal

**Summer Intern**
Gunzi is a rising senior studying chemistry at Kalamazoo College. She has a lot of interest in material science and is hoping to study nanoscience. At Sironix, she is most excited to learn about the application of surfactant chemistry and R&D methods for the advancement of a sustainable material.

Mansi Gokani

**Summer Intern**
Mansi is a rising senior studying chemical engineering at the University of Washington, where she has chosen to focus on soft materials and their applications in industry. At Sironix, she is excited to get a glimpse into industry and explore formulations using Eosix. Outside of work, Mansi is an avid cook and cafe enthusiast.

McCRAE Leith

**Summer Intern**
McCrae is a senior chemical engineering student at the University of Washington with an interest in clean energy. He is eager to apply his knowledge of surfactants from the classroom to assist in designing processes for synthesizing Sironix surfactants. When he’s not at work, you can catch McCrae playing pickup basketball or making chicken and rice.

Former Interns

Four-legged Board Members

Interested in working or chatting with us?

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