In the wake of the coronavirus, the global demand for hand sanitizers is increasing (Performance)
Tel Aviv:
Israeli scientists have developed a “simple” and inexpensive method of converting waste into ethanol to clean it up in the battle against the new coronavirus.
Professor Hadas Mamane of the University of Tel Aviv (TAU) and his team have been working for five years on the recycling of waste and its transformation into alcohol.
Now, in response to the global demand for hand sanitizers, they have focused on producing ethanol in Israel to replace the need to import alkogels.
“Here we have paper residue from a factory, straw from a zoo and grass collected in the municipality of Tel Aviv,” said Mamame in his laboratory.
She inserted small amounts of each into a reactor and added ozone gas.
Ethanol has long been produced from plant sources such as sugarcane or corn, but in a complex and costly procedure.
“Our breakthrough in TAU has succeeded in using low-dose ozone to make this process on a much smaller and cheaper scale,” said the professor.
“We can now create ethanol in an easier, cheaper, smaller and environmentally friendly way.”
She said that the method developed in a joint study with Professor Yoram Gerchman of the University of Haifa uses small amounts of ozone on different wastes.
“We manage to show that we can produce ethanol in a simple and green, environmentally friendly way that does not generate toxins,” said Mamane.
She said that it takes four or five days to produce alcohol from waste products that undergo the process of ozonation and the removal of enzymes and preservatives.
Israel alone produces more than 620,000 tonnes of plant waste each year, according to Mamane, allowing two years for the method to be commercialized.
The country received praise in March and April for its swift action against the new coronavirus pandemic, including the imposition of early travel restrictions.
But its reopening strategy came under criticism as business exploded.
The Jewish state has recorded more than 33,000 new coronavirus infections, including 346 deaths.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
