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:
Knowledge-Based Company Locally Manufactures Plastic Water Bottles Production Line
An Iranian knowledge-based company has acquired the full know-how and technology of production line of plastic water-bottles at much lower costs as compared to the German equivalents.
KARSAN PAYA APADANA CO is an Iranian company that manufactures air molds and plastic injection molds as well as machinery in various fields such as food, health, industrial and pharmaceutical industries. Besides, one of the specialized areas of this company is the production line of mineral water bottles and drinking water bottles. The production line includes parts such as the production of single-used bottles, shrink packaging machine, arranging machines, labeling machines, PET blow machines and liquid filling machines.
“Our company is the first company that manufactures the automatic bottling machine in Iran, and we reverse-engineered this machine from a European machine and rebuilt it according to Iran's climate,” Mahmoud Mardani Kamali, CEO of the company said.
Regarding the washing machines in the plastic bottle production line, he said, “We have defined two types of machines, ‘triblock’ and ‘manublok’ for washing bottles, the manublock machine for washing the cooking oil line at high speed and the triblock machine for washing. It is used in juice and water production lines.”
“It is used to cover glass bottles, PVC, polyethylene, etc. covers; OPG labelers are among the most advanced devices that have very high speed. These labels are embedded with a roughness of 4-5-6 microns with very little glue consumption,” he said while pointing to the bottles' labelers.
Iranian Knowledge-Based Firm Produces High-Quality Laser Physiotherapy System
A knowledge-based company in Iran succeeded in designing and manufacturing a laser physiotherapy system which can compete with the European samples.
“This laser system, by using the laser beam, its penetration into the skin and its absorption by the tissue under laser radiation, strengthens and increases the proliferation of immune cells and lymphatic activity, along with muscle relaxation, which heightens the pain threshold and improves inflammation,” Amin Ahmadi, the managing director of the knowledge-based company, told ANA.
“Today, this laser system is used in physiotherapy offices, rehabilitation clinics and physical medicine as a powerful tool for applications like reducing pain, increasing the speed of tissue repair and cell growth, increasing the speed of the wound healing process, improving nerve function, reducing inflammation, effect on blood vessels, increasing the speed of blood flow and increasing metabolic activity,” he added.
Ahmadi noted that the important thing about this system is the use of diode laser technology connected to optical fiber (detachable), adding that the company's diode laser is equipped with fiber detection system, laser power detection photodiode, and switching technology to make electronic circuits.
Iranian Knowledge-Based Firm Produces Smart Sprinklers
An Iranian knowledge-based company has successfully designed and produced a smart sprinkler and water supply system to manage water consumption in agriculture.
According to a report by the Iranian Vice-Presidency for Science and Technology and Knowledge-Based Economy, Fazel Makarian Fard Jahromi, the managing director of a knowledge-based company said that smart irrigation sprinklers, environmental sensors and integrated management servers are the sub-equipment that are needed to have a smart irrigation system.
He added that those smart irrigation systems are of great importance in areas where there is water scarcity.
According to Makarian, smart systems are used to manage water supply to greenhouses, agriculture and horticulture, aquaculture and poultry farming.
He said that the smart irrigations system has used a solar power generator as a source of energy, adding, “Farmers are the main consumers of smart sprinklers. Meanwhile they can be also used for water supply in the industrial and rural sector as well.”
Iranian Knowledge-Based Company to Produce Seat Warmers for 30,000 Cars
A knowledge-based company in Iran has gained the technological know-how of printing all types of flexible printed circuits (FPC) and signed a contract with the giant automaker SAIPA company to produce seat warmers for 30,000 vehicles.
“We have nanotechnology products, the most important of which is the seat warmer and we have produced and commercialized it,” said Ali Qarakhani, the director of research and development of the knowledge-based company.
Noting that nano materials have been used in these seat warmers, he underlined that they enjoy high quality due to the use of nanotechnology.
“At present, we have a contract with SAIPA company for these seat warmers, and we will produce seat warmers for 30,000 cars this year,” Qarakhani said.
“We have built a printer in a bid to make and develop products in the field of printed electronics like seat warmers, sensors and car panels with the help of nano inks. In this technology, making flexible and low-cost electronic devices is possible by using nano-inks,” he added.
Iran Exports $137 Million of Pistachios in 1st Half of Current Year
Iranian customs administration’s figures show that the country exported $137 million worth of pistachio in the first 6 months of this year, indicating an of 3% as compared to same period last year.
The total weight of pistachio exports in the 6 months of this year in the Iranian year of 1402 (March 21-September 21) was 20,000 tons, which shows a 7% increase compared to the same period last year, the figures released by the Iranian customs administration indicated.
Pistachio exports accounted for 11% of the total value of agricultural exports and 57% of the total value of non-oil exports in the 6 months of this year, the figures showed.
During that period, the highest amount of pistachio exports was to the countries of the Russian Federation with $28 million, Germany with $13.1 million, United Arab Emirates with $13 million, India with $12.8 million and Kyrgyzstan with $12.5 million. In total, 57.7% of the total value of pistachio exports was exported to the above-mentioned 5 major destinations in the 6 months of this year.
Iranian Knowledge-Based Company Produced Fever-Detecting Clothes for Babies
An Iranian knowledge-based company produced clothes for babies that alerts parents if there is a temperature spike.
According to a report by the Iranian Vice-Presidency for Science and Technology and Knowledge-Based Economy, Zahra Behrouzi, managing director of a knowledge-based company said that making smart textile is what they have focused in her firm.
She said that their infant clothes are offered to the market under the trademark "Beirano".
She said that their clothes are smart, meaning that through thermochromic yarn they change color based on body temperature.
“Beirano's fever-detecting wearables change color slowly when the child's body temperature increases above 37 degrees Celsius, and when the temperature rises above 38 degrees Celsius, it turns completely white, after treating the child and when the risk is over, it changes back their original color, showing to the parents that the child's condition is back to normal,” Behrouzi said.
She said that they started to work on the fever-detecting infant's clothing project after they felt the need in the society, adding that their products have three main properties: physical; modern technology; and being smart feature.
Iran Discovers Oil, Gas in Exploratory Drilling of 2 Fields
Iran discovered oil and gas during exploratory drilling in Darkhovin and Cheshmeh Shour fields in Khuzestan and Khorassan Razavi provinces.
The onshore drilling rig 201 of Energy Gostar Pars exploration and drilling company succeeded in completing the drilling and carrying out reservoir tests in Darkhovin oil field of Ahvaz. The rig was installed last year and it drilled to a depth of 4,810 meters and reached oil.
Also, the onshore drilling rig 203 has been engaged in exploratory drilling operations in Cheshmeh Shour gas field since last year, and after drilling to a depth of 4,505 meters, it found gas in the position of well number 01 of this field.
The rig is currently located in the position of well number 01 of Ziyar oilfield in Golestan province and has drilled to a depth of 4,064 meters to discover gas and is currently preparing for the start of step-by-step testing operations.
Iranian Researcher Discovers Novel Method to Study Fluid Flow through Porous Media
Researchers at Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST) have produced a software to calculate the fluid flow in porous media.
Milad Ramezanpour, the executive director of a project entitled "Simulation of nanofluid flow at the scale of a cavity in a porous medium reconstructed by microtomography images" said that the project was conducted under the supervision of Majid Siavashi at Tehran-based IUST, adding, “The use of numerical method is considered as an efficient means alongside the experimental methods in today's research in engineering sciences because the use of numerical methods is not as costly as experimental methods and make it possible to study different states at low financial and time costs in a certain physics.”
“With the advancement of measurement tools, such as access to micrometer or even nanometer resolution images of the structure of a porous medium, it is possible to analyze the properties of fluid flow, such as calculating permeability, how particles disperse, configuration of multi-phase flows inside the porous medium, and things like that. Therefore, the use of methods such as microtomographic imaging of the porous medium in millimeter or centimeter dimensions produces images with micrometer resolution,” the researcher further explained, according to a report by the Iran Nanotechnology Innovation Council (INIC).
“Using image reconstruction methods and with providing a physical model from it, it is possible to analyze the fluid flow behavior inside the reconstructed porous medium at the cavity scale. It can be said that locally producing a software method to calculate the fluid flow inside the porous medium at the cavity scale using microtomography images was the purpose of this project. By designing this software method, it is possible to predict the behavior of all types of fluids in the porous media,” Ramezanpour continued.
Iranian Scientist Offers Green Alternative for Cement
The United-States based Iranian scientist Rouzbeh Savary has offered C-Crete as a cement alternative that could significantly reduce the industry’s carbon dioxide emissions.
C-Crete Technologies, a startup founded by MIT alumnus Rouzbeh Savary PhD ’11, has demonstrated a new way to make concrete with almost zero CO2 emissions.
“It’s a major milestone for the entire construction industry,” Savary said, according to the MIT website.
In the world of greenhouse gas emissions, concrete is a heavy hitter—generating roughly seven percent of total CO2 emissions globally.
In fact, the messy, decidedly unglamorous occasion marked a milestone in the race to reduce gigatons of global CO2 emissions. That’s because the concrete was made using a more sustainable binding material developed by the startup C-Crete. For C-Crete founder and president Rouzbeh Savary PhD ’11, the fact that the work went on as normal was a huge success. That’s because cleaning up an industry as large and conservative as construction is going to require a seamless, inexpensive transition.
Iranian Researchers Discover Method to Improve Process of Producing Compost from Garbage
Researcher at the University of Tehran (UT) have focused on the feasibility and planning for the use of biochar in improving the quality of compost produced from municipal solid waste (MSW) materials.
The research to study the effect of biochar on the composting process of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) was carried out by Omid Hassanzadeh Moghimi, a UT graduate in environmental planning major under the supervision of Gholamreza Nabi Bidhendi, a professor at UT's Faculty of Environment.
“Using biochar or charcoal for soil amendment as an additive in the composting process, even at low doses (1% by weight), can increase the quality of compost by reducing the nitrogen reduction rate during the process. The main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of biochar on the composting process of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) under real conditions,” Nabi Bidhendi said about the project.
The professor said that different doses of biochar (1%, 3%, and 5%) were mixed with compost piles to evaluate the variation of temperature, moisture content (MC), organic matter (OM), carbon (C), nitrogen (N), C/N ratio, and heavy metal (HM) contents in comparison with the control treatment (with 0% biochar addition).
Iranian Knowledge-Based Firm Develops Inspection System for Tablet, Capsule by Using AI
A technological knowledge-based company in Iran has succeeded in designing and producing a tablet and capsule inspection system with the help of artificial intelligence.
“Our company presents its products in the field of machine vision equipment and artificial intelligence projects,” Mohammad Savadkouhi, the managing director of the knowledge-based company stationed at the technology development center of the Islamic Azad University's Isfahan branch, told ANA on the sidelines of Asr-e Omid event and exhibition in Karaj.
“The device presented in the exhibition is a tablet and capsule inspection system and it detects and warns of the presence of defected or broken tablets,” he added.
Savadekouhi described high speed, high accuracy and low error among the important features of the product, saying, “This machine can handle anything that is on the production line and requires quality control, including dimensions, barcodes, labels, and appearance, without the need for an operator and it only identifies and controls with a specific camera and removes the defected tablets and capsules from the system.”
He noted that the product’s price is one-third to one-fourth of the price of foreign samples.
Iran, Belarus to Increase Oil Cooperation by Forming Specialized Working Group
High-ranking Iranian and Belarussian officials in a meeting in Minsk underlined the need for forming a workgroup to further develop mutual cooperation in the field of oil, gas and petrochemicals.
Iranian Deputy Oil Minister for International Affairs and Trade Ahmad Assadzadeh said that Tehran and Minsk have agreed to form a specialized oil, gas and petrochemical working group.
He made the remarks on the sidelines of his meeting with Chairman of Belarus’s Belneftekhim company Andrei Rybakov in Minsk.
Assadzadeh added the two sides also exchanged views on cooperation in the oil industry.
Iran to Hold 16th Int’l ‘Harkat’ Festival
The Deputy Minister of Science, Research and Technology for Cultural and Social Affairs announced plans to hold the 16th international ‘Harkat’ (Movement) festival at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran on December 19-21.
The festival will be held after a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for cooperation was signed between the science ministry’s culture department and Shahid Beheshti University with the aim of creating and developing joint cooperation and optimally use the scientific, cultural, religious and artistic potentials and capacities.
The 16th international Harkat festival will be held concurrently with the research and technology week hosted by Shahid Beheshti University.
The International Harkat Festival is the largest student event in Iran. The festival is organised by the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology of Iran, in collaboration with Western Asian Development Institute (WADI) and has been hosted by different Iranian universities since 2008.
The concept of the festival is to gather students from different parts of the world in a combination of a festival and an exhibition. The festival aims to encourage student projects and activities, fostering inspiration and being a starting point for international cooperation among the students.
Iranian Researchers Present New Method to Make Nanocatalysts for Propylene Production Process
Iranian researchers at the University of Tehran presented a method for making and assessment of nanocatalysts for the propylene production process.
Fatemeh Gashoul Darrehsibi, one of the researchers, said that the title of the project is ‘manufacturing and assessing nanocatalysts based on chromium and gallium with atomic layering method for the dehydrogenation process of propane in the presence of carbon dioxide as a mild oxidizer for the production of propylene’.
“The most common method for production of light olefins is cracking with steam and catalytic cracking of naphtha fluid bed, light diesel and other petroleum by-products, and due to the impurity of the propylene resulting from these methods, subsequent separation steps are necessary to obtain pure propylene,” she said.
“On the other hand, the high energy consumption of these processes, the reduction of oil reserves and the increase in oil prices have led the petrochemical industry to find an alternative method of feed that is much more economical with a higher conversion rate,” Gashoul Darrehsibi said.
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