Innovations

The Natural Biostimulant developed at the University of the Western Cape is a proudly South African, cost-effective, safe, natural and organic botanical fertiliser with promising commercial applications in the agriculture sector. Derived from an indigenous plant extract, the product contains a

Surfactants are amphipathic molecules with both hydrophilic and hydrophobic moieties that partition preferentially at the interface between fluid phases, such as oil/water or air/water interfaces. Such characteristics confer excellent detergency, emulsifying, foaming, and dispersing traits, which

A renewable energy powered street light which provides off-grid lighting. Powered by a combination system of a vertical axis wind turbine, a solar panel, and a rechargeable battery system. Twerly™ uses a vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) to harvest wind energy and a standard 140W photovoltaic (PV)

Interferon Induced proteins with Tetratricopeptide repeats (IFIT) proteins are a family of antiviral proteins that have been shown to confer immunity against viral infection. IFIT proteins have been shown to be conserved in vertebrates, with homologues having been identified in several organisms

The need for accurate, rapid and sensitive detection of bio-molecules is becoming ever more pressing. The aforementioned are needed in several industries, ranging from clinical diagnostics and screening to assessing microbial contamination in water and even plant disease diagnostics, to name just a

With our society facing challenges related to sustainability i.e. resource depletion and waste accumulation, the future success of the chemical and polymer industries relies on the use of renewable feedstocks. Lignin, one of the main components of non-edible lignocellulosic biomass shows great

SUNSPOT is a solar thermal power plant with rock-bed storage, containing a unique set of patented and individually licensable Stellenbosch University technologies. The SUNSPOT cycle is appropriate and efficient for generating, storing and deploying solar power in arid regions.

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has rigorously investigated and conducted preclinical studies on the use of the South African indigenous plant species, Siphonochilus aethiopicus, commonly known as African ginger, in the treatment of allergic and respiratory diseases

According to the present invention, there is provided a process for extracting mucilage from succulent plants, in particular, the cladodes of the Opuntia ficus-indica or the leaves of the Aloe barbadensis or Agave Americana, the process comprising the steps of: Providing a source of cladodes or

The innovation describes a process for removing lead from a liquid such as contaminated water. The liquid is brought into contact with a PbrD protein which binds lead ions present in the liquid. The bound lead ions can then be recovered, for example as an insoluble salt or compound such as lead

This technology relates to a laser shock peening process in which the collapse of a cavitation bubble is intentionally provided and is guaranteed to occur by the laser peening arrangement used. The application for this is either as: A secondary peening impact, which results in more effective

The technology is a membrane for treating acid mine drainage that is reproducible and can handle large discharges of acid mine drainage. It is suitable for implementation in a filtration cartridge setup that allows for the reclamation of metals which can then be recycled and used for other