{"id":481953,"date":"2024-07-05T06:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-05T04:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationorigins.com\/?p=481953"},"modified":"2024-07-05T06:30:00","modified_gmt":"2024-07-05T04:30:00","slug":"ga-winner-vitalfluid-offers-a-sustainable-alternative-to-chemical-pesticides","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/ga-winner-vitalfluid-offers-a-sustainable-alternative-to-chemical-pesticides\/","title":{"rendered":"G&#038;A winner VitalFluid offers a sustainable alternative to chemical pesticides"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.ioplus.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/VITALFLUID-979x1004.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-482013\" width=\"268\" height=\"275\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>When lightning strikes water, it temporarily disinfects it. Rain during a thunderstorm also has this short-lived effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Co-founder and CEO Paul Leenders: \u201cThe universe is 99% plasma. A special segment within the world of plasma is combining air plasma with water. This is how thunderstorms originate. Thunderstorms are not called green rain for nothing. These plasma-activated water showers have a temporary cleansing effect, and the remaining water contains a higher bound nitrogen content. This is nature\u2019s way of providing nutrients to plants and trees. Lightning strikes somewhere in the world 8 million times a day, accounting for more than 10% of all bound nitrogen on Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Mimicking nature<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Startup VitalFluid mimics that principle to eliminate chemical pesticides and is developing a sustainable form of fertilization through Plasma Activated Water (PAW).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Gerard &amp; Anton Awards 2024 winner Vitalfluid wins\" width=\"1290\" height=\"726\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WnFh1tWk0OY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The company developed a reactor that brings normal ambient air into a plasma phase. The fourth state of aggregation after solid, liquid and gas. Leenders: \u201cAir consists of about eighty percent nitrogen and twenty percent oxygen. With electrical energy, we mimic lightning bolts passing through the air.\u201d Thus, the air enters a plasma phase. That air brings the reactor into contact with \u201cordinary water.\u201d \u201cWhen you do that, that water has a short-term disinfecting effect. That reactivity disappears after about 20 minutes to half an hour.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By copying lightning, VitalFluid can provide natural nitrogen as a sustainable liquid fertilizer for plants and crops. It is produced on the farm and uses only water and ambient air as inputs. Growers are thus less dependent on external inputs. Leenders says: \u201cAs early as 2012, it became clear that we could offer a sustainable alternative to pesticides with this technology. An additional advantage was that PAW as a residue is a fertilizer and can, therefore, be fully absorbed by the plant. We are now focusing mainly on greenhouse horticulture, but we will also add the horticulture and open cultivation segment to our portfolio.\u201d &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"vlp-link-container vlp-layout-basic wp-block-visual-link-preview-link advgb-dyn-a996e158\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/upyther-aims-to-make-peritoneal-cancer-treatable-with-a-chemogel\/\" class=\"vlp-link\" title=\"UPyTher aims to make peritoneal cancer treatable with a chemogel\"><\/a><div class=\"vlp-layout-zone-side\"><div class=\"vlp-block-2 vlp-link-image\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"vlp-layout-zone-main\"><div class=\"vlp-block-0 vlp-link-title\">UPyTher aims to make peritoneal cancer treatable with a chemogel<\/div><div class=\"vlp-block-1 vlp-link-summary\">\u201cOur mission is successful when we can bring effective medication to market, giving patients the prospect of a longer life,\u201d begins Geert van Almen, CEO of UPyTher.  \u201cCurrently, treatment options for patients with metastases to the peritoneum is very limited, resulting in an inferior prognosis for this group and patients dying prematurely.\u201d<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Founders Paul Leenders and Polo van Ooij met in 2014. At the time, Leenders was working on a TNO Space and ESA project to disinfect and sterilize air. Through that project, he came into contact with plasma specialists at TU\/e.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Van Ooij graduated as an electrical engineer from TU Eindhoven in 2014 and is responsible for the technical side of the business. The men saw the technology\u2019s potential. In a subsequent project with Wageningen University and the Radboudumc, several companies from Nijmegen and TU Eindhoven, as technology providers, investigated how the technology could be applied safely. Leenders: \u201cThe joint project showed excellent results. There also appeared to be opportunities to use plasma-activated water as a sustainable alternative to chemical pesticides.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Struggling with laws and regulations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>They now sell their reactors in Europe and the United States. The most significant challenge the startup encountered, is leglislations and regulations, especially in the EU. \u201cThis imposes significant barriers to entering the market with our products\u201d, Leenders explains. \u201cIt is often a long and expensive process of up to eight years to comply with all the procedural requirements for EU approval. Outside Europe, it is only one to two years.\u201d The biggest highlight, Leenders said, occurred outside the EU. \u201cIn the U.S., in terms of laws and regulations, much more is possible. I see the first ten machines VitalFluid sold in the U.S. as our most important success.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>VitalFluid is located in the Brainport region, which is a conscious choice. The company could choose between Nijmegen and Eindhoven, but it chose the latter. \u201cPrecisely because of the ecosystem. We are a high-tech company and benefit from a high-tech network and other high-tech companies, so Brainport was\u2014and is\u2014the most logical place for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile has-background\" style=\"background-color:#c5a769;grid-template-columns:auto 22%\"><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#c5a769\"><strong>In our latest magazine &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/online.fliphtml5.com\/lknoe\/nxog\/\">IO Next: Gerard &amp; Anton Awards<\/a> &#8211; you read about the 10 winners of the 10th edition of our own Awards Show. We look back at the 90 winners before them and look ahead to the impact these 100 winners together are making on the world.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.ioplus.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Schermafbeelding-2024-07-01-142746.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-481782 size-full\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The Gerard &amp; Anton Awards are supported by EY, Rabobank, V.O. Patents &amp; Trademarks, TWICE, Kadans Science Partner, Braventure, Lumo Labs, Gemeente Eindhoven, High Tech Campus, Philips, Goevaers &amp; Znn. B.V. and DeepTechXL.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When lightning strikes water, it temporarily disinfects it. Rain during a thunderstorm also has this short-lived effect. Co-founder and CEO Paul Leenders: \u201cThe universe is 99% plasma. A special segment within the world of plasma is combining air plasma with water. This is how thunderstorms originate. Thunderstorms are not called green rain for nothing. These [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2589,"featured_media":506851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[83676],"tags":[85283,40609,85306],"location":[6763],"article_type":[43139],"serie":[],"archives":[],"internal_archives":[],"reboot-archive":[82815],"class_list":["post-481953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-green","tag-ga-2024","tag-nitrogen","tag-vitafluid","location-netherlands","article_type-features","reboot-archive-green"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":{"subtitle":"This week, we highlight the winners of the Gerard and Anton Awards. Today: VitalFluid.","text_display_homepage":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"Team IO","author_link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/author\/erikdevries\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Schermafbeelding-2024-07-01-155208.png","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/category\/green\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">GREEN+<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">GREEN+<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/category\/green\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">GA 2024<\/a>","<a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/category\/green\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">nitrogen<\/a>","<a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/category\/green\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">vitafluid<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">GA 2024<\/span>","<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">nitrogen<\/span>","<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">vitafluid<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 2 years ago","modified":"Updated 2 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on July 5, 2024","modified":"Updated on July 5, 2024"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on July 5, 2024 6:30 am","modified":"Updated on July 5, 2024 6:30 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2589"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481953"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=481953"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=481953"},{"taxonomy":"serie","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/serie?post=481953"},{"taxonomy":"archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/archives?post=481953"},{"taxonomy":"internal_archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal_archives?post=481953"},{"taxonomy":"reboot-archive","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reboot-archive?post=481953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}