In collaboration with the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research, and Innovation, the National Research Council of Thailand organised the Thailand Research Expo 2023 which presents over 1,000 research projects from now until Friday. This event takes place at Centara Grand and Bangkok Convention Centre at CentralWorld, under the theme "Driving Research Towards A New Economy And Sustainable Development Of Thailand".
Chulaphat shawls.
Pathapong Chuenboon, left, and Ornuma Phojiw, of the Ayutthaya Studies Institute, with Chulaphat fabrics. (Photos: Somchai Poomlard)
When mentioning research projects, many people tend to think about cutting-edge technology. However, research encompasses a wide range of subjects. Besides talking to the team about a project for converting trash to high-value graphene, Life also spoke with two other teams in charge of projects involving cotton fabrics and Chulaphat, which is an ancient fabric project.
Chulaphat – An Ancient Fabric Pattern Revival Project
By Ayutthaya Studies Institute, Phranakhon Si Ayutthaya Rajabhat University
Chulaphat bag. Photo: National Research Council of Thailand
Chulaphat was inspired by pa lai yang, which literally means fabric that has patterns specified by the royal office. Pa lai yang was a kind of fabric made for the ruling class in the royal Siamese office during the Ayutthaya period. It was created with specifications for materials, design and patterns to differentiate officials based on their social status.
Pathapong Chuenboon, an academic at the Ayutthaya Studies Institute, said that pa lai yang was made by Indian artisans.
"Indian artisans used a chemical called mordant which helped patterns attach to fabric permanently and resist fading. Siamese artisans could create similar patterns to pa lai yang, but without mordent, the patterns disappeared after being washed a couple of times. Therefore, pa lai yang was made in India only."
The Chulaphat project began when academics from the Ayutthaya Studies Institute discovered 12 pieces of pa lai yang fabric wrapped around ancient scriptures in Wat Yan Ang Thong in Ayutthaya. Since the fabrics were old and damaged, the institute collaborated with fabric specialists and artists to duplicate patterns from the original pa lai yang with minimal contact with the ancient fabrics. They designed new patterns based on the originals and printed fabrics with the new design. These were given the name Chulaphat.
Ornuma Phojiw, of the Ayutthaya Studies Institute, said that local people had seen pa lai yang in the temple for years, but they did not realise it was valuable.
"After we created Chulaphat which was inspired by pa lai yang, they were proud of local fabrics. Currently, Chulaphat is made into three products for dressmaking, shawls and bags, but people have to pre-order them. Local people have just recently formed a team to make them. They do not have stocked products ready for purchase yet," said Ornuma.
Converting Waste to High-Value Graphene
By Thai Synchrotron National Lab
Pattanaphong Janphuang, chief of the Technical and Engineering Development Division of Thai Synchrotron National Lab.
The government has set a goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and net zero emissions by 2065. As a result, Pattanaphong Janphuang, chief of the Technical and Engineering Development Division of Thai Synchrotron National Lab, came up with the idea to convert biomass and polymer waste to graphene. Graphene is a material composed of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a two-dimensional lattice resembling a hexagonal honeycomb.
"Graphene is over 200 times stronger than steel which has the same weight. It can conduct heat better than any other material. It is the best conductor of electricity, even a thousand times better than copper," said Pattanaphong.
According to the Pollution Control Department, in 2022, Thailand produced 25.7 million tonnes of waste. Of that, biomass accounted for 47.84%, plastic for 28.13% and paper for 6.27%. Carbon is the main component of these waste materials. Disposing of waste can be done by either burying or burning, but burning creates a lot of carbon dioxide. Therefore, converting waste to graphene can reduce carbon dioxide emissions and turn trashed material into valuable resources.
A sample of graphene in a bottle.
"The value of graphene ranges from 100,000 to 1 million baht per kilo depending on its purity. For an average purity of 90%, the price is around 200,000 baht per kilo. It's a significant rise from 7-10 baht per kilo of waste," said Pattanaphong.
In the graphene synthesis process, bio-mass and polymer waste are partially incinerated to transform into carbon. The carbon is rapidly heated to temperatures as high as 3,000 Kelvin (2,726.85C) within milliseconds. This process rearranges the carbon atoms and leads to the formation of graphene.
Pattanaphong and his team at Thai Synchrotron National Lab successfully transformed biomass and polymer waste into graphene. In collaboration with the Italian Thai Development, the team mixed graphene with concrete and discovered that it enhanced the strength of concrete. As a result, they can reduce the use of mortar in making concrete.
Despite its success, the project is currently only produced in the laboratory, but Pattanaphong has plans to expand the production scale beyond the laboratory scale.
"We aim to produce 10kg of graphene per day. 10 kg of graphene requires 1 tonne of waste. This means if we achieve our goal, we will reduce 1 tonne of waste a day."
Natural-Coloured Cotton
By Nakhon Sawan Field Crops Research Center
Natural-coloured cotton from the Nakhon Sawan Field Crops Research Center.
Siwilai Lapbanjob, director of the Nakhon Sawan Field Crops Research Center at the Department of Agriculture, revealed they have been working on plant breeding for over 40 years. Siwilai said that cotton used to be an economic plant, but farms required much insecticide which was harmful to people. Therefore, many farmers changed to other crops such as corn, cassava and sugar cane.
Despite no longer being an economic crop, Nakhon Sawan Field Crops Research Center is still improving cotton through breeding because people in local communities still create handicraft products from cotton. People at the centre have to collaborate with interdisciplinary academicians to achieve improvements in plant breeding.
"Plant breeding improvements primarily focus on enhancing their resistance to insects, so that farmers will not need to use insecticides when they cultivate cotton fields not exceeding 2 rai," Siwilai said.
Payada Jankua, left, and Siwilai Lapbanjob, of the Nakhon Sawan Field Crops Research Center.
"Moreover, we have been working on enhancing the quality and more natural-coloured cotton, so artisans will not have to dye the cotton. We successfully launched Takfah 3, Takfah 6 and Takfah 8 which are brown cottons in different shades. We also presented Takfah 86-5 which is Thailand's first green cotton with long and soft fibres. These cotton varieties are insect-resistant, have excellent fibre quality and better yield compared to previous ones."
The centre supports communities in all their needs for growing cotton, from providing test kits for cotton seeds to imparting knowledge on cultivation techniques and product-making as well as supplying production equipment.
Siwilai there are always challenges in plant breeding.
"We recently introduced a new cotton variety, 44-3C7-2B(W)3, which will be officially certified as Takfah 9. It is the first white cotton with a fibre length of 1.31 inches [33.3mm], the usual length of white cotton being 1.28 inches. Our challenge is to enhance its quality and production compared to previous cotton varieties."
