{"id":467,"date":"2022-01-21T13:11:31","date_gmt":"2022-01-21T13:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zayndu.com\/?p=467"},"modified":"2024-03-26T10:11:15","modified_gmt":"2024-03-26T10:11:15","slug":"northern-lights-technology-reaches-innovation-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zayndu.com\/northern-lights-technology-reaches-innovation-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Zayndu’s ‘Northern Lights’ Technology Reaches Final of Innovation Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Chemical-free seed cleaning welcomed by vertical farmers<\/em>.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Midlands has a fine tradition in engineering and food technology, so start-up Zayndu is delighted to be short-listed as an innovator in two categories of the LeicestershireLive Innovation Awards 2022. The company has created the world\u2019s first \u2018ActivatedAir\u2019 seed sterilisation system that provides a dry alternative to chemical treatments or washing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Increasingly microgreens, herbs and baby leaved salads are being grown in vertical farms, which could be located in warehouse facilities close to restaurants and centres of population. If these indoor farms are kept free of pests then crops can be grown without the need for chemicals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zayndu is a spin-out from Loughborough University\u2019s Wolfson School of Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering. CEO Ralph Weir says: \u201cThe UK is at the forefront of agri-tech innovation and our technology uses an engineering approach to reduce the use of chemicals in food production. We are attracting international interest from pioneers of vertical farming who are looking for a way to produce salads and other crops in cleanroom conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bacteria and fungi can hide within the coating of seeds. Zayndu\u2019s technology cleans the seed thoroughly and boosts their performance \u2013 the treated seeds germinate and grow more quickly, with higher yield and reduced losses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zayndu\u2019s first product, the Z10, uses a low energy plasma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just like the vivid natural phenomenon of the aurora, or \u2018northern lights\u2019, the Zayndu technology passes a current of electricity through air, splitting oxygen and nitrogen molecules into individual atoms and creating a plasma. This \u2018ActivatedAir\u2019 \u2013 technically a blend of Reactive Oxygen and Nitrogen Species (RONS) \u2013 is a powerful disinfectant.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ralph explains: \u201cThe RONS are desperate for something to latch onto and will tear apart bacteria, fungi or viruses present in the chamber. The seeds are not affected as they are protected by their thick walls, so the only things coming out of the chamber are cleaned seeds and fresh air.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The LeicestershireLive Innovation Awards are to be held on the 24th February at the King Power Stadium in Leicester. Zayndu is shortlisted in the Manufacturing and Engineering category and the Food and Drink Manufacturing category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More information about the awards is available at\u00a0leicestershireliveinnovationawards.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want to find out more about our seed cleaning technology, visit our website<\/a> or send us an email at info@zayndu.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zayndu is delighted to be short-listed as an innovator in two categories of the LeicestershireLive Innovation Awards 2022<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":719,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[6,15,16],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zayndu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zayndu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zayndu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zayndu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zayndu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/zayndu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1472,"href":"https:\/\/zayndu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467\/revisions\/1472"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zayndu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zayndu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zayndu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zayndu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}