"Killer paper" holds promise, and danger?



Source: ACS

The march of nanotech silver particles in the fight against bacteria seems relentless.

Readers of this blog may recall the technology lies at the heart of the Tata Chemicals' Swach water filter which won the ICIS Innovation Awards in 2010. And the chances are your socks also contain silver nanoparticles to fight odour-creating bugs.

Now, researchers in Israel's Bar-Ilan University have come up with a way of depositing silver nanoparticles on the surface of paper, holding out the prospect of antibacterial food packaging materials. The trick, outlined in a recent paper in the American Chemical Society's journal Langmuir, is to use high-frequency sound waves to make sure the silver coats the paper and stays there.

The coated paper has shown potent activity against E coli and S aureus, two frequent causes of food poisoning.

The news is bound to raise alarm bells amongst those concerned over the proliferation of nanotechnology, especially when it comes to the matter of food contact and potential oral ingestion. The fate of nanoparticles entering in the human body is a fertile area for speculation. National bodies are conducting research and preparing guidelines for such cases, and the chemical industry is very keen to be seen to be taking a responsible role in developments.

As I reported in ICIS news on this issue, in this respect the industry has to get it right. It is no longer appropriate to bring new technologies to the table and hope the public will simply wave them through. Risks and benefits have to be quantified and openly discussed in a way the public can understand and react to.

When that debate includes health and food safety – two concerns close to everyone’s hearts – then the communication needs to be spot-on and the industry needs to ensure it is in the ring as a trusted participant, not as a partial provider of partial information.

ICIS Innovation Award winners celebrate

As this innovation blog is brand new, I thought I'd take the chance to bring everyone up to date with the results of the ICIS Innovation Awards for 2010.

These Awards are sponsored overall by silicone specialist Dow Corning and with category sponsorship by consultancy CRA International and distributor U.S. Chemicals. Full details are on the Awards website.

A strong emphasis on sustainability and the environment was evident in many of the better entries for this year's ICIS Innovation Awards

The overall winner was India's Tata Chemicals for its innovative Swach domestic water filter using silver nano-scale technology and recycled rice husk ash. In the seven years that the ICIS Innovation Awards have been running, no entry has generated as much admiration and acclaim among the judges as the Tata Chemicals' water purifier.

The four category winners were: Best Product Innovation - Tata Chemicals Tata Swach nanotech water purifier; Best Innovation by an SME - NiTech Solutions Use of innovative NiTech reactor by Genzyme; Best Business Innovation - Huntsman Advanced Materials New generation of rapid manufacturing equipment and resins; and Innovation with Best Environmental Benefit - Teijin Fibers
ECO CIRCLE innovative closed-loop recycling system for polyester.

Winners and sponsors enjoy the award

presentation and lunch in London

Tata Chemicals' winning innovation was judged to cover all bases. It includes a novel use for a readily available natural waste stream - rice husk ash; it exploits hi-tech nanotechnology in the active biocidal ingredient - silver; and it addresses a huge social problem at an economic cost - the provision of safe drinking water in developing areas of the globe.

Judge Alfred Oberholz, formerly of board member for innovation at Evonik Degussa, commented that the Tata Swach addresses global problems with great social impact. Dow Corning's CTO Gregg Zank added that clearly the Tata Swach shows how chemicals and
chemical innovation are helping people everywhere. The innovation , he said, "resonates" with the needs of today and "tells a compelling story."