USM bags green awards

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A TEAM of researchers from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) School of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering is hoping to turn the surrounding air of households and offices into fresh, clean and comfortable spaces with ‘Titano’ — an air purifier that converts organic pollutants into safe, non-toxic substances.

Associate Prof Dr S. Srimala, Prof Zainal Arifin Ahmad and Khairul Arifah Saharudin came up with the award-winning innovation to overcome drawbacks of the present available air purifiers in the market.

“The air purifiers you find in the market traps the pollutants with filters — they do not destroy the pollutants unlike Titano. Titano breaks organic pollutants into harmless substances so it is a permanent and sustainable solution,” Srimala explained at a press conference at USM yesterday.

Titano was among seven ‘green’ innovations by the university’s research teams that won 14 medals at the International Trade Fair Ideas-Inventions-New Product (IENA 2011) in Germany and the International Warsaw Inventions Show (IWIS 2011) in Poland.

The former was held from Oct 27-30 while the latter from Nov 3-5.

Prized wins: USM researchers showing off the medals they won

The other six winning medal entries were a biodegradable plastic film made from tropical fruit waste (Fruitplast), an indigenous biomedical membrane for diagnostic kits (NCmem), a diagnostic kit for the deadly disease melioidosis (Melio-dot), a super-strong adhesive and furniture material recycled from polystyrene (Eco-C), a waste-water treatment absorbent made from palm oil waste (LignoZorp) and a test kit for the simple and rapid detection of cholera bacterial DNA (Genostick).

Fruitplast research team head Prof Dr Hanafi Ismail said the product together with Titano would be in the market in the next one or two years as it has the support of the Northern Corridor Implementation Authority and Malaysian Technology Development Corp.

Researcher Norliyana Mohd Salleh said LignoZorp, which was made from palm oil waste, could absorb harmful materials before they enter the rivers.

“It is a cheap and effective way to treat polluted water,” she said.

Researchers from the Schools of Health Sciences, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Industrial Technology and Medical Sciences and the National Doping Control Centre also did the university proud at the BioMalaysia 2011 event, held from Nov 21 - 23 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

They bagged two golds and four silver medals with their inventions.