Top News of Last Week with ANA
Azad News Agency (ANA) published a number of scientific and technological news during the past week whose top ones are as follows:
Saudi Public Investment Fund Invests 1.3 Billion Dollars in 4 Construction Companies
Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) announced an investment of 1.3 billion US dollars in four local construction companies.
The investment is made by subscribing to new shares as part of the capital increases in the four construction companies, according to a statement from the PIF.
The investment will contribute to promoting the construction services sector and improving local supply chains for current and future projects in Saudi Arabia, said the statement.
The companies' partnerships with the fund will support their operations and businesses' regional and international expansion, according to the statement.
Yazeed A. Al-Humied, deputy governor and head of MENA Investments at the fund, said such partnerships demonstrate the fund's commitment to unlocking the capabilities of key strategic sectors in Saudi Arabia.
The investments and other activities and initiatives are part of the fund's mission to build strategic economic partnerships to achieve sustainable returns and unlock the capabilities of promising sectors with significant long-term growth potential.
Reducing Energy Loss through Windows with Nano Low-E Glass
An Iranian company introduced nano Low-E glass (low emissivity) for windows as one of the solutions to save energy and prevent energy loss in buildings.
A report by Iran’s National Nano Headquarters said that Low-E (low emissivity) glass produced by an Iranian factory is one of the technologies that has greatly contributed to reduction of energy loss in buildings. These glasses have much less heat transmission than normal glass and act like a transparent thermal insulator. About a third of the building's energy is lost through windows, so these glasses can help reduce energy loss.
Energy-efficient glazing is the term used to describe the double glazing or triple glazing use in modern windows in homes. Unlike the original single glazing or old double glazing, energy-efficient glazing incorporates coated (low-emissivity) glass to prevent heat escaping through the windows.
The glasses that the Iranian manufacturing group has produced is called Ecostar glass and Ecostar Plus glass which are colorless thermochromic smart glass produced by a soft coating method.
Iran Finds Way to Battle Aflatoxin in Pistachio Using Plasma Technology
Benefiting from plasma technology, Iranian researchers managed to fight aflatoxin contamination in pistachio crops.
Plasma is used when it is important to combine materials or to specifically change their surface properties.
Nowadays, plasma technology is utilized in almost all sectors of industry, and new applications are being developed constantly.
Pistachio nuts are highly susceptible to contamination by aflatoxins, harmful substances that are produced by certain molds.
Not only aflatoxins are known to cause cancer, but they have also been linked to a wide variety of other diseases.
“By using plasma technology, we have been able to fight against aflatoxin in pistachio crops, which is completely effective without side effects,” Mohammad Eslami, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization, said.
Nuclear technology has a wide range of applications and the world has benefited from this capacity and technology for decades, he added.
Eslami pointed out that the presence of aflatoxin causes the pistachio shipments to be returned from export destinations.
“If just one contaminated pistachio is found in the pistachio shipment, the entire shipment will be returned.”
Researchers at the Tehran-based Shahid Beheshti University (SBU) have developed filters for sampling crystalline silica particles in the process of testing quality and quantity of air pollutants.
"Production of air pollutant sampling filters inside the country has been limited due to some reasons, in the meantime, the sampling filters' import has also been difficult due to economic sanctions and foreign currency fluctuations. Therefore, we are witnessing the shortage of the mentioned filters and also increase in the price of this widely used product in the country," Dr. Somaiyeh Farhang Dehghan, a professor at the Faculty of Health and Safety of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, said, according to the SBU public relations department.
She considered Iran as one of the top countries in the world in the field of nanotechnology, adding her team has launched the production of nanofiber filters on industrial scale for use in air, water and sewage, automobiles filters and face masks inside the country and exporting them overseas.
The SBU professor also said that they started producing air quality monitoring filters to prevent the costly import of the product to help the country amid the economic sanctions as one of their goals.
She further said that their produced filters have met international industrial hygiene and safety standards such as SKC and Inc.
A knowledge-based company in Iran succeeded in production of fresh turmeric and ornamental plants, seedlings and seeds which have no viruses and do not need any poison spraying.
“The plants that we provide to farms are plant phytogens, which means that they are healthy and free from any contamination and germs,” Ali Oqalayee, the managing director of the knowledge-based Avij Kesht Baft Arvin company, told ANA.
Noting that ornamental plants were smuggled illegally to Iran in the past and they needed pesticide spraying, he said, “We have produced plants that do not require any type of spraying which is an important advantage.”
“Fortunately, with this method, we were able to indigenize ornamental plants like orchids and provided them to greenhouses with the same quality as foreign specimens,” Oqalayee said.
"Also, the fresh turmeric plant was not produced in Iran before and we are the first company which worked on the turmeric plant commercially and we were able to harvest fresh turmeric,” he underlined.
Iranian Technology Fights against Frosting from Fruit Orchards to Airplane Wings
Unexpected cold weather in Iran which has caused urban, industrial and agricultural damages made the country's researchers to present environmentally friendly products against frostbite in various fields.
Researchers of a technological company located in West Azerbaijan province’s Science and Technology Park in Northwestern Iran produced and presented to the market an antifreeze system for the fruit orchards.
The anti-freeze device is a 12-meter mast and structure with a 6-meter propeller which is completely smart and can measure and store the necessary information before the frost occurs.
The device, which is equipped with a temperature sensor and the graph of temperature changes of the geographical area, turns on automatically before freezing situation.
The system automatically receives all information of the garden and then starts analyzing and storing the recieved data. Later it delivers the information to the gardener by sending an SMS and enables him/her to control it remotely.
Also, another system produced by the Iranian researchers prevents frost in aircraft’s wings.
Airplane wings have moving parts and when the plane lands on the runway, dew drops may sit on these parts and freeze. The Iran-made antifreeze product prevents freezing.
Iranian Researchers Produce Kit to Detect Anti-Biotic in Milk
Researchers at an Iranian knowledge-based company have developed a kit to detect harmful and excessive anti-biotic in milk.
“Kits to quickly detect anti-biotic in milk, which is used in the dairy industry, are one of the achievements of this knowledge -based company,” Roya Mirzayee, one of the researchers that developed the kit at the Iranian knowledge-based firm told Iranian media in an interview.
A lot of antibiotics are used to treat while dairy cattle in sick, but the antibiotics will be residues in the raw milk. There are some rapid test for easy detection using special kits.
“These kits are used in the dairy industry to measure the volume of antibiotics in milk,” she added.
Mirzayee noted that their manufactured kit is capable of measuring and detecting tetracycline and Beta-lactams in milk, adding, “If the volume of these two antibiotics in milk is high, it will cause the fermentation not to take place and as a result it causes damage to the dairy industry.”
Iran-Made Zirconium-Based Nanocoating Capable of Increasing Resistance to Corrosion, Erosion
Zirconium-based nanocoating produced by an Iranian knowledge-based company is able to increase metal parts’ resistance against corrosion and erosion.
Using convertible coatings is one of the common and cost-effective methods in industries for metals’ surface coating.
In addition to improving the corrosion resistance of the substrate, the convertible coating method increases the adhesion of the paint to the surface.
Phosphate or chromate convertible coatings are the most commonly used types of coatings.
Efforts have been made to replace phosphate and chromate coatings with coatings containing other materials such as zirconium oxide, titanium oxide, and vanadium oxide to narrow down environmental side effects and people’s health hazards.
In this line, an Iranian knowledge-based company has produced zirconium-based nanocoating for metal equipment and parts.
Unlike phosphate and chromate coatings, zirconium-based nanocoating does not bring about environmental problems and meantime the process will be carried out at natural temperature and in a shorter period of time.
The zirconium-based nanocoating has also the advantage of lower weight compared to chromate or phosphate coating.
Iran-Made Nano-Based Cellulose Filters Improve Performance of Turbines
Cellulose depth filters which purify oil varnish and improve its removal process are the latest achievement of a knowledge-based company in Iran that enhance the performance of industrial turbines.
The cellulose depth filters for turbine oil purification is one of the knowledge-based products made with the support of the Nanotechnology Development Headquarters of the Iranian Vice-Presidency for Science, Technology and Knowledge-Based Economy, which is used to remove varnish from turbine lubricating oils, hydraulic oils, gear oils and transformer oils.
Cellulose depth filters are among the conventional filters in turbine oil purification, and the presence of nanofibers in these filters improves the efficiency of varnish removal from oil.Considering the fact that the existing filters are made of paper, cellulose filters also decrease paper consumption.
Capability of pressure drop at a level close to paper filters, reduction of consumer cost by at least 10 times, absorption of water, varnish and compounds resulting from oil oxidation, capability of production based on pressure drop and filtration accuracy required by the customer and chemical resistance against organic solvents, acids and weak bases are among the main specifications of the technological product.
Iran to Hold Expo of Knowledge-Based Products of Food, Pharmaceutical, Medical Equipment Industries
An exhibition of knowledge-based products in the field of food, medicine and medical equipment is due to be held in Tehran late in February.
The first exhibition of the knowledge-based health products will be held at Imam Khomeini's mausoleum in Tehran on February 27-28 with participation of several manufacturing companies.
The two-day exhibition which aims to support knowledge-based production and introduce the country's capabilities and advances in the field of high-tech data-x-items and products will be held in the presence of the high-ranking Iranian health officials.
Different pharmaceutical data-x-items and medical equipment produced for the first time in the country will be unveiled during the opening ceremony of the exhibition.
Nanofertilizer Produced from Algae Increases Plant Growth
The researchers at an Iranian start-up company produced bio fertilizers using nano technology from algae, which will increase plants growth and yield in greenhouses and farms.
Kambiz Karami, marine biology researcher and the project manager of producing bio fertilizers from algae told Iranian media that the product has been produced fully using Iranian-made equipment.
He said that the project is still in trial phase, adding, “The results of the trial phase showed that this fertilizer had positive effects on the growth of ornamental plants, plants that cannot bear fruit such as cactus, eucalyptus and sugarcane.”
Saying that they have tried the fertilizer for greenhouse plants, Karami added, "We are planning to conduct these studies on tomato plants, and the results have been satisfactory so far, and the full results will come out in the coming days."
The project manager further pointed out that their bio fertilizer increases the crops from the plants in addition to an increase in their growth.
The researcher also said that their product has a longer effect than its rivals on the plant, in addition to being safe to the environment.
“The method that was implemented to produce this fertilizer from algae is based on the green industry, which does not pollute the environment, and the laboratories or factories that produce this product, both their effluents and waste are completely adoptable with the environment, and they can be used as fertilizer or soil conditioner,” Karami noted.
Iranian Company Manufactures Fluorescence Spectrometer
A Iranian technological company managed to design and produce a fluorescence spectrometer that is utilized to identify nanoparticles’ materials.
A fluorescence spectrometer, which can be applied in biology, chemistry, and environmental science laboratories, measures the fluorescence of a molecule to gather information about its components and chemical environment.
Amin Sharqi, the technical manager of the mentioned company, said that it is very important to know what kind of materials the manufactured nanoparticles contain during production of nanoparticles.
Thanks to the technology used in building the fluorescence spectrometer, the device is able to detect the particles inside a substance and display it to the user, he highlighted.
Sharqi pointed out that the X-ray hits the material and based on the camera inside it, it can display the elements inside the product.
“The device has a relatively heavy door, which is closed slowly using a jack, and within 10 to 15 seconds, it identifies the materials used inside the product,” he went on to say.
Iranian Company Produces Stationery for Different Climates
A team of researchers at an Iranian knowledge-based company have developed nano masterbatches to produce antibacterial stationery for different climates.
A team of researchers at a knowledge-based Iranian company are producing antibacterial stationery, and have opened a laboratory to make it possible to identify and determine the type of stationery for cold and warm climates, as well as areas that are exposed to dust particles.
The team have been able to export their products as well.
Mehran Mersad, manager of research and development of the Iranian knowledge-based stationery production company said that antibacterial nano stationery is one of the knowledge-based achievements of his company.
“The research and production plan of this type of stationery was carried out from 2011 to 2014 and finally we achieved the know-how of producing antibacterial stationery using nanoparticles. These products include erasers, pens and sandspiel,” he said.
“If harmful bacteria are on the hand, they will be destroyed after a few seconds if they get contacted with this antibacterial stationery. One of the harmful things is the presence of helicobacter on the hand, which will lead to gastric ulcer and duodenal ulcer. In case of contact with this antibacterial stationery, the helicobacter will be destroyed,” Mersad explained.
“In order to produce antibacterial stationery, masterbatches were added to the raw materials, and in this way, the entire components of the products become antibacterial,” the researcher further explained.
Iran Stands among Top Countries in Developing Int’l Nanotechnology Standards
Five world states take the lead in developing and approving the international nanotechnology standards and Iran is standing among them.
The approval of 151 national nanotechnology standards in the country by the National Nanotechnology Standards Committee and 10 international standards in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) are among the measures that have paved the way for Iran to join the list of top countries in the field of developing and approving international standards.
Nanotechnology Development Headquarters of the Iranian Vice-Presidency for Science, Technology and Knowledge-Based Economy, as the official guardian of nanotechnology development in the country, pays special attention to the issue of nanotechnology standards and safety so that the products manufactured in the country can survive in the domestic markets and be able to compete in the global markets.
To achieve this goal, the standard and safety group of the headquarters was formed to interact with specialized centers and reputable experts in the form of inter-organizational documents, special working groups and joint committees, holding specialized meetings, events and conferences and supporting projects and competitions to prepare the ground for taking executive actions in the field of standardization of nanotechnology products.
Among the achievements of this group are the country's high rank in the world in terms of developing and releasing national and international nanotechnology standards, improving the credibility and influence of the country in national and international forums related to the standard and safety of nanotechnology and Iran's position in the list of five leading countries in developing and approving the global nano standards.
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