20 April 2006
Johannesburg — TURNING something very, very small into something very big for SA's economy is the ambitious aim of a R450m government investment into a rapidly evolving area of science.
Nanotechnology, or paring things down into sub-microscopic atoms and constructing new materials from those particles, could become a core expertise for local scientists, the science and technology department believes. The exact nature of the science takes some getting to grips with, as deputy minister Derek Hanekom admitted at the launch of the National Nanotechnology Strategy last week.
It is based on the fact that a small cluster of atoms has different properties to the lump of material it originally came from.
A nugget of gold, for example, cannot be stuck in a test tube with some dirty carbon monoxide to somehow cajole the gas into becoming clean again.
But if you break down gold into its basic collection of atoms, it mysteriously gains the power to do exactly that.
This is tremendously exciting for the local gold industry, as its raw material suddenly gains a gamut of potential new uses.
Gold's ability to act as a catalyst could benefit the mining industry itself, if the technology can be built into face masks to detoxify the air in mines.
A R350m nanotechnology plant will be constructed at the Rand Refinery in Germiston if an experiment to use gold as a catalyst for chemical reactions proves commercially viable.
If it does, the plant is expected to consume 50 tons of gold a year -- or 20% of SA's national gold production -- to develop a new product for an as yet unnamed foreign buyer.
The project is being led by minerals processing company Mintek, which has formed the AuTek consortium in partnership with AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields and Harmony Gold.
They are suppling the gold, Mintek is supplying the nanotechnology know-how, and a foreign partner has supplied the manufacturing equipment.
A different foreign partner will then buy the end product, says Roger Paul, GM of technology at Mintek.
Paul will not give any details about the product being developed, but says the buyer will pay for the gold itself, currently at R120m a ton, plus a premium to more than cover the manufacturing costs.
If the project gets the go-ahead, construction will begin next year, with production starting in 2009.
"We are not underestimating the challenges," says Paul. "Success is there to be grasped, but there are difficult technical and business hurdles between us and the critical go or no-go decision.
"Developing and launching a new product based on a new branch of science isn't for the faint-hearted."
The AuTek consortium is aiming to create a viable industry by manufacturing new products using home-grown technologies, Paul says.
That is only achievable if the necessary scientific infrastructure is available, including ultra-high resolution microscopes and a pool of post-graduate students to draw on.
At the moment, scarce funding and a battle to attract the few qualified researchers available means that companies or research bodies exploring nanotechnology are competing, rather than co-operating.
Government hopes that its R450m strategy will resolve this, by providing sufficient resources for everyone.
The money will fund research and development, equip more laboratories and improve university curricula to develop a skilled workforce.
Scientists must master techniques of creating, assembling and exploring the properties of nanoparticles before they can find practical uses for them, says Pontsho Maruping, GM of the department's frontier programmes.
"We will invest most of the initial resources in setting up synthesis facilities and a high-performance computer centre to support modelling and simulation programmes," she says.
A nanometre measures a billionth of a metre, so 80000 particles stacked together are only as thick as a human hair.
Once those particles are reassembled, changes in the material can include a lower melting point or the ability to withstand higher temperatures.
The department believes that the first commercial products could include water purification schemes, cost-effective solar power devices, treatments to increase soil fertility and biodegradable materials to deliver drugs in gradual doses.
Paper manufacturer Sappi is already exploring nanotechnology in its forests, to see if it can be used to monitor the temperature or check for the presence of termites and fungus.
Nanoparticles could also make new water- or oil-resistant coatings for paper, in order to increase its range of uses.
"There is very little that can't benefit from the application of this technology," says Hanekom.
"We have to think big in order to harness the power of the small, and that is what this strategy is all about," he says.
Government has committed a large amount of money to build on existing initiatives to create and commercialise products with international sales potential.
SA's nanotechnology skills could also attract international investment, so government is committed to creating an attractive political and regulatory climate with strong skills and world-class research and production facilities, Hanekom says.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2006 Business Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
