Market and product

A breakthrough study recently published in the journal Scientific Reports has opened up a new direction for the global food processing industry, as Russian scientists successfully created an environmentally friendly cleaning-disinfectant agent from industrial waste combined with silver nanoparticles.

In the context of industries facing pressure on costs and environmental protection, this new product promises to deliver a "multi-target" solution: reducing waste, saving water, and ensuring production safety and hygiene.

Challenges in Industrial Sanitation

Product quality in the food processing industry heavily depends on the cleanliness of equipment. Research shows that if equipment is not properly cleaned, the amount of harmful microorganisms can increase tenfold. Equipment cleanliness can affect up to 80% of the bacterial contamination level of products.

Currently, factories still mainly use traditional cleaning agents such as sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate, or nitric and sulfamic acids. However, these substances have many limitations: low cleaning efficiency (only achieving 80-90%), requiring multiple rinses, consuming large amounts of water and energy, and potentially causing equipment corrosion. Particularly, they leave residual deposits on equipment surfaces - where bacteria can thrive and affect product quality.

Creative Idea: Turning Waste into Resources

The research team led by Dr. Andrey Blinov and Professor Andrey Nagdalian from North Caucasus Federal University (Russia) viewed the problem from a completely different angle. Instead of considering mineral solution from the membrane filtration process as waste requiring costly treatment, they recognized its potential as a valuable raw material.
This mineralized solution contains phosphates, potassium, sodium, chlorides of trace elements along with organic and inorganic acids - precisely the components needed for an effective cleaning agent. When combined with silver nanoparticles with strong antimicrobial properties, the product achieves both cleaning and disinfection in one step.

This is a example of circular economy philosophy - turning waste into resources, creating added value from what was previously considered disposable by-products.

Nanotechnology Optimized by Artificial Intelligence

The special feature of the research lies in the method of synthesizing silver nanoparticles stabilized with didecyldimethylammonium bromide (DDAB). The research team used neural network algorithms - an application of artificial intelligence - to optimize the production process, creating uniformly sized silver nanoparticles of approximately 4.5 - 20 nanometers.

These nanoparticles have special properties: they are extremely stable across a wide pH range from 2 to 11, without aggregation or oxidation during long-term storage. This ensures the product maintains its effectiveness throughout its usage period, meeting the stringent requirements of industrial applications.

The application of artificial intelligence in chemical research demonstrates the trend of integrating digital technology into chemical product development - a direction that Vietnam's chemical industry needs to pay attention to.

Safety is the Top Priority

Before practical application, the research team conducted a comprehensive safety assessment of the product according to international standards. Acute toxicity test results showed that the lethal dose 50% (LD50) was 4,230 micrograms/kg - 27-44 times higher than silver nanoparticles stabilized with other substances in previous studies.

Particularly important, the product does not cause toxicity through inhalation and is classified as a low-hazard substance according to the global GHS (Globally Harmonized System) standard. This is crucial for protecting the health of factory workers and meeting increasingly stringent occupational safety regulations.

Tests on aquatic organisms (Danio rerio fish) also showed that the median lethal concentration (LC50) was 315 mg/L, equivalent to existing commercial products. When diluted 10-100 times in wastewater - as in actual discharge conditions, the product does not harm aquatic ecosystems.

Outstanding Effectiveness, Multi-functional

Laboratory tests and practical applications showed that the new cleaning-disinfectant agent has notable advantages:

High cleaning ability: Removes contaminants at approximately 90%, equivalent to or higher than existing commercial products. The product significantly reduces the contact wetting angle (from 100° to 20-70°) and surface tension (from 70 mN/m to 40-64 mN/m), helping to enhance wetting and cleaning capabilities.

Strong antibacterial activity: Particularly impressive is the antifungal activity against Penicillium roqueforti at a concentration of only 0.005 mg/mL. After surface treatment, no E. coli bacteria or pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella were detected, and the total bacterial count was only 10 CFU/mL - meeting the highest hygiene standards for food processing equipment.

Low corrosiveness: The product has low corrosive properties on stainless steel and aluminum - two common materials in industrial equipment, even at high temperatures of 50°C (corrosion rate of only 0.0074 mm/year for stainless steel and 0.0032 mm/year for aluminum). This helps extend equipment lifespan and reduce maintenance costs.
Natural alkalinity: With a pH of approximately 11, the product can hydrolyze fats and effectively remove organic residues without additional alkalization.

Economic and Environmental Benefits

The application of this new cleaning-disinfectant agent brings many practical benefits to processing plants:

Reduced raw material costs: Utilizing mineralized solution - which is waste requiring treatment - helps reduce environmental treatment costs and creates added value from by-products. This is a典型 example of the circular economy model.

Water conservation: The product allows for significant reduction or complete elimination of water use in the equipment cleaning process. This is particularly important in the context of water scarcity and increasing pressure on wastewater treatment. According to trials, the amount of solution needed for one cleaning cycle does not exceed 5 m³.

Shortened process: The product both cleans and disinfects in one step, saving time and energy. Factories no longer need to purchase separate cleaning agents and disinfectants as before.

Reduced environmental impact: Replacing synthetic chemicals with products from industrial waste, reducing the amount of synthetic surfactants discharged into the environment.

Application and Implementation Directions

The research team proposes a complete sanitation treatment process with recycling and reuse capabilities:

After washing, the solution can be recovered, passed through an adsorption column to separate silver nanoparticles, then reused or safely discharged. The silver nanoparticles regenerated from the adsorption column can be reused, minimizing waste and optimizing costs.

The product is particularly suitable for cleaning electrodialysis membrane equipment - an advanced technology being increasingly applied in many industries. Using the waste from the membrane filtration process itself to clean the equipment creates a closed loop, embodying the philosophy of cleaner production.

To ensure environmental safety, the wastewater discharge system needs to be equipped with filter traps to prevent silver nanoparticles from being released into the environment. This helps reduce the load on wastewater treatment systems and protect ecosystems.

Significance for Vietnam's Chemical Industry

For Vietnam's chemical industry, this research opens up many new directions:

Green technology and circular economy: Utilizing industrial waste to create high-value products not only reduces production costs but also reduces environmental impact - aligning with Vietnam's sustainable development strategy.

High-tech application: The application of nanotechnology combined with artificial intelligence in chemical product development shows the modern trend that Vietnamese chemical enterprises need to move toward.

Import substitution: This technology can be researched and applied to produce domestic industrial cleaning products, reducing dependence on imported chemicals.

Expanded applications: The same principle can be applied to other industries with waste containing mineral salts and organic acids such as seafood processing, fruits and vegetables, beverages... creating new value chains from waste.

Particularly, in the context of Vietnam promoting circular economy and sustainable development programs, this research model is scientific evidence showing that utilizing industrial waste is completely technically feasible and economically efficient.

Development Prospects

The research team said they are continuing to study silver nanoparticle complexes with other quaternary ammonium salts such as alkyldimethylbenzylammonium chloride and cetyltrimethylammonium chloride to compare stability and cleaning-disinfection properties.

This research direction promises to create a diverse group of products suitable for different application conditions in industry. The combination of nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, and circular economy principles creates a sustainable development model that can be replicated in many fields.