Michael Pilgaard
Resume
 | +45 40 71 05 96 |
 | michael@webkemi.dk |
 | Kingosvej 27 97600 Vrå Denmark |
Professional profile
I'm a material specialist. My specialty is polymer technology (polymer chemistry, process technology, aging phenomena, legislation, safety, etc.) and how to make things work in practice. This is done by being inventive, tenacious and meticulous. I especially enjoy the inventive/creative part, where you make new discoveries or create new products.
Some people consider this nerdy (personally, I prefer the older term intellectual), but for me it is really a matter of personal belief and curiosity. You must be the change you want to see in the world. Work hard, be nice. Having a job where you just show up and go through the motions, to pay your bills, makes no sense to me, so I strive to make my work matter.
As I like teaching, and don't mind standing in front of a large crowd, I have been teaching a lot over the years. Both as a regular job as a teacher and as a part of my jobs as materials specialist. I'm a firm believer in making knowledge and skills available, accessible and fun, and it shows in the way I write reports and design web sites.
So far, I have never been hired for my programming or teaching skills, nor my skills in project management and administration, but somehow that sort of projects also seem to find me almost everywhere.
Work experience
| Polymer chemistry | Polymer synthesis and modification Process technology (molding, extrusion, compounding, etc.) Damage assessment/failure analysis Aging phenomena and aging tests Adhesives and sealants Rheology modifying polymers Biological activity/risk assessment/toxicology Drug delivery systems Assorted tests and analytical methods, especially FTIR, TGA and DSC |
| Innovation and business | Product development from lab to production scale Validation, documentation and approvals (design control) Identification of new business opportunities Customer/supplier contact Plastic recycling |
| Certification and audit | Examiner and certification manager (fireworks) Workflow and documentation Inspection and audit |
| Education | Teacher/lecturer Author/development of educational material |
Formal educations
| Diploma in specialized business studies (Innovation) | Niels Brock Copenhagen Business School It started out as a bit of a joke. A friend and I were talking about studying something completely different from science. Just for the fun of exploring new areas of skills and knowledge. Something like business studies. Not knowing the entertainment value of business studies, or what to expect, we signed up. Three years later, after taking whatever courses we thought might be interesting, I had a diploma in specialized business studies (Innovation), plus a couple of extra courses in marketing. | 2000 |
| M. Sc. (biochemistry/ structural chemistry) | Copenhagen University I wanted to study chemistry, but with a biological approach, so biochemistry seemed the way to go. I soon discovered that I preferred the practical chemistry and macro molecules were by far the most interesting type of molecules. I was very interested in how and why they had all these strange properties. What made them work on a molecular level, and what effect did it have on a cellular level? So I concentrated my studies on organic synthesis, protein chemistry, molecular biology and microbiology. It ended up with a master thesis on molecular modeling and x-ray crystallography on a macromolecule called PNA (peptide nucleic acid), a DNA analogue intended for antisense and antigene therapy. | 1995 |
| Anti-Tank gunner | 4. MOTINFKMP/ II/ Sjællandske Livregiment, Slagelse I was a technical volunteer. I knew I was going to be enrolled, so by volunteering, I had some influence on where I would go. I wanted to be near Copenhagen, as I knew I was going to start studying there, and I wanted to be infantry. So, I ended up at Sjællandske Livregiment in Slagelse, in a motorized infantry company, being trained as an anti-tank gunner. | 1987 |
| Student (math and chemistry major) | Brønderslev Gymnasium Gymnasium is the Danish equivalent to high school and has nothing to do with gymnastics. I was a math and chemistry major. | 1986 |
Previous employments
| FORCE Technology 01.02.2009 - 31.03.2019 |
Polymer specialist
|
| Høje-Taastrup Gymnasium 01.01.2009 - 31.01.2009 |
Chemistry teacher
|
| Ambu A/S 01.06.2004 - 31.05.2008 |
Specialist in material development
|
| Ingrid Jespersens Gymnasieskole 01.08.2002 - 31.07.2004 |
Substitute teacher, natural science and chemistry
|
| BOSS Consult 01.03.2001 - 31.12.2003 |
Consultant in polymer chemistry
|
| Huber Engineered Materials 01.04.2001 - 28.02.2002 |
Application scientist
|
| Coloplast A/S 01.06.1996 - 31.03.2001 |
Polymer scientist
|
| Gl. Hellerup Gymnasium 05.01.1996 - 11.06.1996 |
Substitute teacher, natural science
|
| Bladkompagniet 01.10.1990 - 01.09.1991 |
Delivering Sunday papers. One of the jobs I had to make some money while studying. |
| HH Supermarked 01.03.1990 - 18.08.1990 |
Cashier. One of the jobs I had to make some money while studying. |
| Herlev Metalvarefabrik ApS. 18.04.1988 - 18.08.1988 |
Metal processing. One of the jobs I had to make some money before starting at the university. |
| Keramos Plastic A/S 24.11.1987 - 30.03.1988 |
Plastic extrusion. One of the jobs I had to make some money before starting at the university. |
| Forsvarsministeriet 16.10.1986 - 15.10.1987 |
Conscripted personnel. Military service. Being a conscripted soldier is both a job and an education. |
| Sundby-Wenbo 23.06.1986 - 05.10.1986 |
Servicemedarbejder. Odd jobs at the slaughterhouse Sundby-Wenbo in Nørresundby, to make some money while waiting to start military service. Mostly loading trucks. |
Publications, scientific/business
| Nye produkter i brugt plast Miseljic, M., Merlin, C., Pilgaard, M. Plast Panorama (2018) #9, p. 14-17 Kun en mindre del af den plast, der i dag indsamles, anvendes til produktion af nye produkter. Både på globalt, europæisk og nationalt niveau er der politiske ambitioner om at øge genanvendelse af plast. Men hvad skal der til, for at industrien vil bruge genanvendte råvarer? Read it here (Danish) |
| Recycled plastics: the analytical challenge Pilgaard, M., Bach, D., Erdal, T. Recycling Technology 2019 (2018) p. 20-22 Read it here (English) |
| Sådan optimerer du hærdeprocessen for epoxy Bach, D., Pilgaard, M. Plast Panorama (2018) #2, p. 18-21 FORCE Technology har lavet et række undersøgelser om ophærdning af epoxy, og hvordan man detekterer om epoxyen er færdigophærdet. Metoden er baseret på DSC og kan bruges både som procesoptimering ved indkøring af processen og som kvalitets kontrol ved produktion. Read it here (Danish) |
| Fem gode råd om kravspecifikationer Pilgaard, M. Plast Panorama (2018) #1, p. 12-15 Kravspecifikationer ender alt for ofte med at være besværlige og dyre at udarbejde og vedligeholde i forhold til den værdi virksomheden får ud af det. En kravspecifikation kan sagtens være værdifuldt værktøj hvis den baseres på funktionaliteten i produktet og de elementer der indgår - og ikke blot er en indkøbsliste, der ikke står til at ændre. Read it here (Danish) |
| Københavnerspanden i ny version Pilgaard, M., Rasmussen, L., Erdal, T. Plast Panorama (2017) #9, p. 8-10 Ønsket om at etablere cirkulære løsningsmodeller, hvor plastaffald kan bruges til produktion af fx byrumsudstyr, er baggrunden for demonstrationsprojektet "Ny Københavnerspand" gennemført af Københavns kommune, Dan Hill Plast og FORCE Technology. Read it here (Danish) |
| Genanvendt plast Pilgaard, M., Bach, D., Madsen, M.L. Dansk Kemi (2017) #3, p. 23-25 Der er et politisk ønske i Danmark om, at vi skal genanvende mere plast i fremtiden. Plast indgår som et af flere fokusområder i ressourcestrategien og målsætningen er, at øge genanvendelsen af plast fra husholdninger til 50 % i 2025. Genanvendelse af plast fra husholdningsaffald giver nogle udfordringer i forhold til dokumentationskrav, idet man arbejder med analyser af komplekse blandinger, fra mange kilder, og ikke har historik og indholdsstoffer for plasten. Der er analyse- og separationsmetoder til rådighed, men disse har nogle begrænsninger, som giver en række analysekemiske udfordringer. Read it here (Danish) |
| Plastens egenskaber er nøglen til genanvendelse Erdal, T., Pilgaard, M. Plast Panorama (2016) #5, p. 24-25 Hvordan opgraderer vi genbrugsplast, så den bliver en attraktiv råvarer for industrien. FORCE Technology afholder løbende seminarer med fokus på disse udfordringer som fx kryds-forurening af én plasttype med en anden type skaber. Read it here (Danish) |
| Plast Pilgaard, M. Håndbog for Maskinmestre, kapitel 9.2 Maskinmestrenes Forening (2013) ISBN 978-87-7463-017-3 |
| Sørg for at få lavet en risikovurdering Pilgaard, M. Klumme, Food Supply, 16. juni, 2010 |
| Når plasten ruster Pilgaard, M. Jern & Maskinindustrien (2010) |
| Materialer til kontakt med fødevarer skal være sikre og lovlige Sinding, J., Pilgaard, M., Hilbert, L. Plus Proces (2009) #7, 18 |
| Opgavenøgle til kemi Pilgaard, M. Systime (2004) ISBN 87-616-0812-2 Trinvis gennemgang af løsning af opgaver i kemi på gymnasiet. |
| Device for the administration of an active agent to the human skin Pilgaard, M., Marcussen, J. Patent WO 03/024431 Read it here (English) |
| Crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of a PNA-DNA complex Kastrup, J.S., Pilgaard, M., Jørgensen, F.S., Nielsen, P.E., Rasmussen, H. FEBS Lett. (1995) 363, 115-117 Read it here (English) |
Publications, literary
| Solomon Kane 2. Vinger i natten og andre historier Robert E. Howard (translation English/Danish) Pilgaard Publishing (2024) ISBN 978-87-94278-70-6 |
| John Tower 2. Blodigt spor gennem Los Angeles Michael Pilgaard Pilgaard Publishing (2023) ISBN 978-87-94278-83-6 |
| De Montours forbandelse Robert E. Howard (translation English/Danish) Pilgaard Publishing (2023) ISBN 978-87-94278-67-6 |
| Hårdt prøvede helte 2. Dosmere & Dæmoner Michael Pilgaard Pilgaard Publishing (2023) ISBN 978-87-94278-53-9 |
| John Tower 1. Blodbad i New York Michael Pilgaard Pilgaard Publishing (2023) ISBN 978-87-94278-46-1 |
| Solomon Kane 1. Kraniernes Måne og andre historier Robert E. Howard (translation English/Danish) Pilgaard Publishing (2023) ISBN 978-87-94278-35-5 |
| Jul i Kandahar Michael Pilgaard Pilgaard Publishing (2022) ISBN 978-87-94278-52-2 |
| Hårdt prøvede helte 1. Blandt folk og fæ(hoveder) Michael Pilgaard Pilgaard Publishing (2022) ISBN 978-87-94278-32-4 |
| Luftherrerne af Han Philip Francis Nowlan (translation English/Danish) Pilgaard Publishing (2022) ISBN 978-87-94278-12-6 |
| Gas over Passchendaele Michael Pilgaard Himmelskibet nr. 63 (2022) |
| Hov ... hvem slukkede for New York? Michael Pilgaard Himmelskibet nr. 61 (2021) |
| Gyro-hatte og andre tossede påfund Ellis Parker Butler (translation English/Danish) Pilgaard Publishing (2020) ISBN 978-87-93797-97-0 |
| Diskrete hændelser i Roswell Michael Pilgaard Pilgaard Publishing (2020) ISBN 978-87-93997-03-5 |
| Vampyrer fra rummet Michael Pilgaard Pilgaard Publishing (2020) ISBN 978-87-93997-01-1 |
| Armageddon år 2419 Philip Francis Nowlan (translation English/Danish) Pilgaard Publishing (2019) ISBN 978-87-93588-97-4 |
| Geoffreys panklaggephone Ellis Parker Butler (translation English/Danish) Pilgaard Publishing (2018) ISBN 978-87-93588-61-5 |
| Little Brother Cory Doctorow (translation English/Danish) Science Fiction Cirklen (2014) ISBN 978-87-90592-90-5 |
| Aesirs kappe (in Det kom fra en anden verden) John W. Campbell (translation English/Danish) Science Fiction Cirklen (2011) ISBN 978-87-90592-50-9 |
| The Tourist (in Sky City) Patrick Leis (translation Danish/English) Science Fiction Cirklen (2010) ISBN 978-87-71141-58-0 |
| Dreams of Stone (in Sky City) Brian P. Ørnbøl (translation Danish/English) Science Fiction Cirklen (2010) ISBN 978-87-71141-58-0 |
Other activities
| Publisher 02.2017 - |
Pilgaard Publishing. I like old literature, so I started retrodigitizing and publishing public domain literature as eBooks. The project somehow quickly expanded to new publications and physical books. |
| Editor of the fanzine Novum 06.2012 - 03.2017 |
Science Fiction Cirklen. SFC needed an editor for their fanzine Novum, so I volunteered. |
| Translator, literature 12.2010 - 02.2014 |
Science Fiction Cirklen. Translation of science fiction from English to Danish and vice versa for some of SFC's publications. |
| Mentor 04.2010 - 04.2016 |
ScienceTalenter. A friend of mine asked if I would like to be a mentor for young inventors in regards to the technical parts of their inventions, on one of the science camps. It was a lot of fun, so I did this a couple of times a year, until they fired my friend. |
| Web programming 2008 - 2010 |
Komiks.dk. The Danish comic con Komiks.dk needed volunteers, and being a comic book fan and skilled in web programming, I volunteered for helping with the web site. |
| Websites 2003 - |
Internet. It all started with one web site about pop culture, especially comics, and evolved into a set of websites, covering a number of subjects.
2016: PilgaardElements.com
2016: PilgaardPolymers.com 2016: HTML-Shark.com 2014: WebKemi.dk 2013: HTML-Hajen.dk 2013: DanskeTegneserier.dk 2013: AmericanComicBooks.info 2012: WeirdSpace.info 2006: Pilgaard.info 2003: WeirdSpace.dk |
| Salsa instructor 2001 - 2003 |
Various places. Back in the day, salsa was all the rage in Copenhagen, so me and a couple of friends, who had also been dancing for a couple of years, volunteered as salsa instructors. Just for the fun of it. |
| Designing databases in Lotus Notes 02.2000 |
Coloplast. A course I held while employed at Coloplast. |
| Member of the FIC board 10.1999 - 03.2001 |
Coloplast. The club for white-collar staff at Coloplast, FIC, asked me if I wanted to be a member of the board and help organize the various parties and arrangements throughout the year. Having nothing better to do at the time, and the ones I knew on the board were nice people, it seemed to be a good idea (and it was). |
| FIC-revy 1998 - 2000 |
Coloplast. I wrote some of the sketches and acted in some of the other sketches for the annual cabarets for FIC members at Coloplast. 2000: Coloplast Millennium Show
1999: Affæren paa Bakkegaarden 1998: My fair leader |
Projects - polymers
| ResourceLAB 01.2017 - 12.2018 |
FORCE Technology. Continuing the work from "Ressourceproduktivitet i plastindustrien" on helping Danish companies making the transition from virgin plastic to recycled plastic. |
| GenVind 12.2012 - 12.2016 |
FORCE Technology. The purpose of the GenVind Innovation Consortium was to develop technologies for a sustainable recycling of plastic composites (cradle-to-cradle), and demonstrate that the waste can be used in many different products, components and structures. The project was a national initiative funded by Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation. |
| Ressourceproduktivitet i plastindustrien 11.2013 - 12.2016 |
FORCE Technology. One of the tasks in the project was demonstration cases, helping Danish companies switching to recycled plastic for some of their products. Arla's green milk crates is the only demonstration case that can be disclosed as a part of this project, but it wasn't the only project we had. The project using recycled plastic was continued as ResourceLAB. |
| Hydrophilic skin adhesives 1999 - 2001 |
Coloplast. Some of the technologies tested during the development of a corn removal adhesive, spun into a small ongoing project on developing hydrophilic adhesives. The objective was to develop new types of adhesives in general, but adhesives with new properties, e.g. mucoadhesion, topical drug delivery or on/off switches was the main interest. |
| Compeed Corn Remover 09.1996 - 12.2000 |
Coloplast. Development of an adhesive containing an active ingredient for treatment of corns. When Coloplast Consumer Products started working on the second generation of Compeed, they wanted to expand with a product for corn removal. The idea was to come up with something different from the existing products i.e. not salicylic acid. Three and a half years later, a new type of adhesive and technology with a new type of treatment, that performed well in clinical trials, had been developed. But, at that time the project's focus was changed, and now they just wanted something cheap and easy, i.e. salicylic acid in a rubber matrix, which took about an hour to develop. The patent WO 03/024431 is from solving the stability issue with the product, in a way that would work with the production line. |
| Skin model for testing pressure sensitive adhesives 1996 - 1999 |
Coloplast. There is a major difference between human skin and steel plates usually used for peel tests for adhesives. It is a matter of both surface tension, temperature and viscoelastic properties of the substrate. Most importantly: There is no correlation between steel plates and human skin. The objective of the project was to make a skin model for testing adhesives, that would be able to mimic human skin on the ventral side of a human underarm (the part of human skin with the least variation on humans) and, at a later stage, the area around an ostomy. I did make a working model for testing, that did reproduce the test results on human test subjects. It was, however, a model that needed to be optimized, as some of the parts were a bit difficult to make. After this, the project was taken over by someone else. |
Projects - structural chemistry
| Solvent effect on monomers in free radical polymerzation 2004 - 2008 |
Ambu. Simulation of the solvent effect on charge distribution on double bonds, for prediction of reactivity at UV polymerization. |
| Structure Determination of Peptide Nucleic Acid (PNA) Complexes by Model Building and X-ray Crystallography 1994 - 1995 |
Copenhagen University and The Royal Danish School of Pharmacy. Structure determination of the DNA-analogue PNA's structure in a PNA-DNA hybrid/helix by molecular modeling and x-ray crystallography. |
| Structure Determination of human collagen type VI, chain 3, Kunitz domain 1992 - 1993 |
Copenhagen University. Structural determination of protein by 2D and 3D NMR. |
Projects - inorganic chemistry
| Stability of Ag/AgCl sensors 2006 - 2008 |
Ambu. Most hydrogel sensors for EKG/EEG are based on a hydrogel on a sensor, where the sensor is an Ag/AgCl mixture on some type of carrier. The hydrogels can and will degrade the Ag/AgCl composition, if they do not contain a protective or stabilizing agent. The objective was to determine the necessary amount of protective agent, depending on the sensor types and types of hydrogel, and to document how and how fast the degradation took place. |
| PCC for toothpaste 2001 |
J.M. Huber Denmark. Development and optimization of PCC for toothpaste. |
| PCC Coating 2001 |
J.M. Huber Denmark. Application test and patent search for hydrophobic and hydrophilic coatings on PCC. |
| Carrier & conditioners for FFH&C 2001 |
J.M. Huber Denmark. Lab tests of precipitated silica as carrier or conditioner in FFH&C (Food, Feed, Health & Cosmetics) for costumers/potential costumers. |
Projects - audit and approvals
| Notified body for fireworks 01.2010 - 06.2015 |
FORCE Technology and FORCE Certification. As a spin-off from doing chemical analysis on fireworks, it was suggested that FORCE Certification became a notified body for fireworks (EN 15947). So, I was a part of starting up the business, i.e. traveling to China to audit labs and sub-suppliers, creating the proper documents and workflow, etc. for handling the approvals of fireworks. We did get the approval as notified body, and did work as notified body for a time. The work area was discontinued in 2015, with the implementation of the new standard, requiring recertification. The decision was the result of several things happening at the time. |
Projects - IT
| SAMANCTA (SAmpling MANual for Customs and Tax Authorities) 06.2010 - 12.2016 |
FORCE Technology. Manual for taking samples for taxation purposes. When taking samples for taxation purposes, the amount and how it is done is important. This is both a matter of safety for the customs officer and a matter of the test results holding up in court. SAMANCTA is a collection of recommendations/best practices for the practical aspect of taking the samples. My contribution to the project has been to make it into a web based system for quick and easy access, update and maintenance. My involvement in the project ended, when the contract ended in 2016 and wasn't renewed. |
| Ambu Literature Database 2004 - 2008 |
Ambu. Lotus Notes database for research literature. Design, development and implementation of Lotus Notes database for handling research literature at Ambu. |
| Literature Database 1997 - 2001 |
Coloplast. Lotus Notes database for research literature. Design, development and implementation of Lotus Notes database for handling research literature at Coloplast. |
| Biopolymer Database 1996 - 2001 |
Coloplast. Data collection. Mapping of available polymers of biological origin, focusing on structure, and physical, chemical and biological properties. |