SPINIFEX could be used to revolutionise the plastic and rubber industries at a nano-technological level.
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Camooweal based Dugalunji Aboriginal Corporation and the University of Queensland announced on Tuesday they have a research agreement involving the development of properties of the spinifex fibre.
UQ’s Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology group leader Professor Darren Martin said the spinifex fibre could be used as an addictive to make plastics harder and more durable.
“The broader rubber industry is of interest because these fibres are tough and flexible, although equally you could think of car tyres or rubber gloves ... seals used in the mining industry in the heavy trucks, seals that don’t go out of shape at high temperatures.
“The plant has this unique ability to hang on to and sponge out water.
“That same structure enables you to break it down easily, so we don’t have to throw nasty solvents or acids or chemicals at the pulp in order to make these beautiful nanofibres.’’
It was a renewable nanotechnology that competed well with what else was on the market, Professor Martin said.
He said a Canadian-based company make nano-fibres from wood pulp which was limiting compared to spinifex.
“A lot of people around the world are breaking down biomass whether it’s from trees, from vegetable waste, from anything into nanoscale cellulose, and because spinifex has evolved in a very special and unique way in this very harsh arid environment it has some special qualities.’’
Dugalunji and UQ were developing three patents which were at “various stages”, and it could take more than five years before a commercial prototype was made.
“You need to develop value propositions, you need to develop proof of concept and eventually prototypes and eventually products and that’s a multi-year, multi-stage thing,” Professor Martin said.
Dugalunji Aboriginal Corporation managing director Colin Saltmere said the research agreement gave the corporation the right to decide if the product was commercialised but the corporation was hoping to become a large industrial operation.
He said there was extensive international interest in the nanotechnology which could create an alternative industry instead of mining.
The corporation will need to equally fund the research by seeking investment from an as yet unnamed third party.
It was an opportunity for Indigenous rights and alternative employment in regional communities.
“You’ve got legislative systems in place now that recognise native title but there’s never been a legislative system in place to actually recognise intellectual property.
“Everything has been forced on us including what we’ve done for the cattle industry and a whole range of other industries but this is the first time we’ve basically got an equal right to an industry we believe will come out of this.”
UQ’s Director of Aboriginal Research Professor Paul Memmott said the university was trying to find ways of improving the quality of life in remote areas.
“We’re trying to find new desert knowledge that can be used to develop new industries to make remote communities viable with home grown industries and cottage industries over which they’ve got control,” he said.