HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn presided at a Royal Opening Ceremony for NSTDA Annual Conference 2014 (NAC 2014) on March 31. The royal visit program included a visit to NANOTEC Smart Soil mobile unit which is under the Smart Soil and Fertilizer Flagship Program. Researchers from Nanomaterials for Energy and Catalysis Lab and Hybrid Nanostructure and Nanocomposites Lab are working on this project. Prof. Markus Antonietti (NANOTEC International Advisory Board member) and Dr. Nawin Viriya-empikul helped to provide information on the Smart Soil project.
Smart Soil is produce through a hydrothermal bioconversion process using water hyacinth that clogs Thai canals as raw materials. Smart soil allows farmers to grow crops without resorting to chemical fertilizers. Currently the demonstration unit is capable of producing 8 metric tons of smart soil per day.
At NANOTEC new facility at INC 2, Prof. Thajchayapong, Chairman of NANOTEC Executive Board and Prof. Sirirurg Songsivilai, NANOTEC Executive Director introduced HRH to the NANOTEC International Advisory Board (IAB) members. HRH proceeded to visit the mini exhibition of NANOTEC Flagship program. A royal visit book signing ceremony was prepared for HRH after which NANOTEC Characterization Lab used the AFM-Raman Spectroscopy to draw the nanoscale imaging of HRH signature. A photo of the nanoscale image was then presented to HRH.
HRH also visited Nano-Molecular Target Discovery Lab (TDI) where Dr. Rawiwan Laocharoensuk and Dr. Kittipong Tantisantisom presented details of the cervical cancer sensor project. At Nano Safety and Risk Assessment Lab (SRA) Dr. Rawiwan Maniratanachote presented information related to nano safety and the use of zebrafish for nano safety testing.
