Chemical-free and vacuum-free plasma technology for agricultural seed treatments

"Global food demand is set to grow by 43% in the next 30 years (UN Food & Agricultural Organisation); and yet agricultural land per head of population is falling, with a 20% drop from 2004 to 2014 (World Bank). This squeeze on food production is driving intense focus on agricultural efficiency; this project develops a low-cost technology which can be part of the solution.

Seeds are naturally infected with a range of bacteria and fungi, some of which are catastrophic to the resultant harvest. A well-established route to enhancing agricultural yield is sterilising seeds before sowing - reducing the risk of diseased crops or catastrophic crop failure. This is commonly implemented with treatments involving steam, hot water, chemicals and pesticides. Such approaches can cause significant reductions in the germination rates of seeds, and many of the chemicals in use are becoming regulated -- as harmful side effects become known. Additionally, these processes dictate post-processing -- such as drying, which is costly and time consuming.

Zayndu's approach is to use non-vacuum plasma to sterilise seeds. This process is low cost and organic, offering significant benefits; eliminating toxic chemicals - and the need for post-process drying. This project scales the system into a product with industrial capacity levels. It also builds a commercial organisation capable of exploiting the products, secures first customer installations and creates the platform for investment.

Zayndu's non-vacuum plasma technology has low running costs, using only air and electricity to clean seeds and has been tested to industry standards. With no chemicals involved, it offers low-cost, environmentally-friendly seed sterilisation - helping satisfy the world's growing food demand by offering non-diseased crops with high germination rates.

The business potential is significant - the treated seed market is forecast to be worth $91.32B in 2022, while sales of seed sterilisation equipment are projected to reach $842M at that time (Markets & Markets, 2017).

The innovation and project are timely. Zayndu's technology can make infected seeds and low germination rates a thing of the past, while also eliminating the environmental load of the chemicals it replaces."