Iranian Knowledge-Based Firm Finds Way to Clean Antiquities without Chemicals

“We have built a plasma device that produces cold plasma and is used in the food industry, medicine and temperature-sensitive products and materials, including cultural heritage antiques,” said Seyed Iman Hosseini, a member of the Faculty of Physics of Shahroud University of Technology and the managing-director of the knowledge-based company.

Noting that the ancient artifacts with the passage of time are contaminated with various types of pollution and materials whose cleaning by using traditional methods requires the use of acids or chemical corrosive substances which are likely to damage the ancient artifacts, he said, “With the help of plasma technology and the use of oxygen gas plasma, hydrogen plasma, or argon plasma, it is possible to eliminate the surface pollution of ancient monuments without using any chemical substances.”

“Parts like metal, glass, leather products, paper, etc., cannot withstand high temperatures or harsh chemical environments, and in order to remove pollution and clean them and reveal the patterns on ancient works and cultural heritage, we use cold plasma which contains hydrogen, oxygen and argon gases,” Hosseini said.

“Actually, the most important feature of the plasma cleaning device for ancient artifacts is cleaning without the use of chemicals and cleaning at room temperature,” he underlined.

In a relevant development in May, Iranian specialists at a knowledge-based company had also managed to make a new type of water purification device and omit chemical preservatives from food industry by using the new cold plasma technology.

Erfan Sha’bani, who completed his bachelor's and master's studies in the field of chemical engineering with a focus on food industry at Islamic Azad University and is now a PhD student in food industry engineering at this university’s Varamin branch, is the founder of the knowledge-based ‘Cheshmeh and Khurshid Pharmed’ company.

“Our company is now active in the field of new cold plasma technology, which has led to manufacturing several products, including a device for producing water purified by cold plasma and replacing cold plasma with other technologies like chemical disinfection, chlorination, etc.,” he told ANA.

“We have also made several products of cold plasma for the purpose of non-thermal sterilization and pasteurization to increase the shelf life of sensitive agricultural products, which led to an increase in the storage period,” Sha’bani said.

“The technology developed by our experts can largely eliminate chemical preservatives and significantly reduce the production costs of products like drinking water and food packaging,” he underlined.

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