IPT and Cecil company developed copper nanoparticles with 100% national technology and raw material
Copper particles are the disinfectants par excellence. When exposed to them, viruses and bacteria are not resistant for more than a few minutes to a few hours. There are today in the Brazilian market some products with similar characteristics to eliminate microorganisms. When they are exposed to them, the viruses and the bacteria do not resist for more than a few minutes to a few hours. Silver, for example, has antimicrobial action, but copper is three times cheaper in international quotations, according to the London Metals Exchange. The Technological Research Institute (IPT) and the company Cecil Lamination de Metais developed a pioneering project in Brazil for the production of nanocopper, with technology for nanoencapsulation of the active element from the company’s own reserves. The competition, which is 100% national from point to point, has already given rise to a patent registration.
The challenges facing vaccines against Covid-19 facing national research institutions highlighted the strategic importance of the global technological domain of the production of the Active Pharmaceutical Principle, the IFA. For copper nanoparticles or other equally effective disinfecting elements, the same logic applies.
SPACE FOR THE INNOVATION – The possibilities of application of nanocopper are very diverse. “It can be added to architectural paints to protect the most varied surfaces, to various types of fabrics and also to sanitary metals, among others”, says the researcher responsible for theBionanomanufacturing Nucleus from IPT, Natalia Neto Pereira Cerize.
Microfluidics, an innovative technology that allows the miniaturization of production lines and that also carries the IPT seal in Brazil, has also been studied in the project and can enable more efficient, lower-cost industrial plants, occupying reduced spaces and generating less waste in the production process. “In a near future, it will be possible to produce Brazilian nanocopper in these devices, more efficient and competitive as a disinfectant in public and domestic environments in the post-pandemic period, which will surely sell through mass vaccination”, adds the responsible researcher of the Laboratory Industry of Biotechnology, Patricia Leo.
Source: IPT
