What is “Porous Alpha”?
1. Structure of Porous Alpha
The Porous Alpha is a foamed glass with numerous pores, produced by burning pulverized glass mixed with a foaming agent such as shell powder or calcium carbonate (CaCO3).
2. Using Porous Alpha as a soil amendment
If Porous Alpha is mixed with soil, the water retention capacity of the soil is increased, because the pores of Porous Alpha catch and retain water which otherwise infiltrates in the soil. Porous Alpha can retain water for 15% of its total volume. The dosage is 10% of the soil volume, around 5L of Porous Alpha per linear meter of the ridge.
3. Safe Use of Porous Alpha for agriculture
Porous Alpha is compliant with Japanese soil environmental standards. Based on the result of leaching test, the utilization of Porous Alpha doesn‘t have any problem related to heavy metal and toxic product to use it as the soil including mixing with soil.
How it works :
Porous Alpha can be used for various agricultural practices. It can be used for water-saving, medium for plant growth, better aeration in the soil, etc. As a media for biofiltration, the microbes supported inside Porous Alpha decomposes the source of the odor and hence can be a fit for the poultry and chicken abattoir facilities. It can also be used for water treatment via adsorption and desorption of fluorine and phosphorous ions.
Tomato, Green beans, Pepper, Leafy Vegetables, Wheat, Orange, and Sweet potatoes are few of the crops which got positive results from the unique characteristics of this product by optimizing the water retention & infiltration in the soil and reducing the usage of fertilizers by 50%.
Because of the pores which are produced by burning the pulverized glass mixed with foaming agents such as shell powder or calcium carbonate, the water retention capacity of the soil increases which can retain 15% of its total volume. Based on the results of leaching test, Porous Alpha does not have any problem related to heavy metal or toxication of the soil.
| AGENCY | AWARD | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun | 2004 | Pref. Tottori | Certificate as Green Product by the governor of Tottori's Prefecture |
| Jul | 2005 | Pref. Tottori | Award of collaborative R&D for recycling technology of Tottori's Prefecture |
| Aug | 2008 | Pref. Tottori | Award of incubation for next-generation & local resource-based industry (R&D for water-saving vegetable growing with recycled material) |
| Dec | 2009 | Organization for SME and Regional Innovation, Japan | Award of R&D support for SME manufacturer (Evaluation for water-saving vegetable growing in sandy soil with recycled material) |
| May | 2010 | UNIDO | Registered as transferrable environmental technology for developing countries (UNIDO: United Nations Industrial Development Organization) |
| Aug | 2010 | Pref. Tottori | Award of employment program of an important sector |
| Sep | 2010 | Pref. Tottori | Award of commercialization of recycling technology and products (R&D of adsorption of Phosphorus ion with recycled glass) |
| May | 2011 | Pref. Tottori | Award of grant for strategic economy growth of prefecture of Tottori |
| Apr | 2013 | JICA | Award of the feasibility study to introduce private technology for African development (Senegal) |
| Dec | 2014 | Pref. Tottori | Award of incubation of next-generation and local resource-based industry |
| Jun | 2015 | JICA | Award for the verification study with the private sector for disseminating Japanese Technologies for Water —Saving Agriculture in an arid area in Morocco |
| May | 2016 | Ministry of Economy | Award of 300 small enterprises in Japan |
| Mar | 2017 | Ministry of Foreign Affairs | Our project in Morocco was high-lightened in the white paper on Development Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan |
| Mar | 2018 | JICA | Award for the verification study with the private sector for disseminating Japanese Technologies for Water —Saving Agriculture in an arid area in Peru |