“Turkey is feeling the strong impacts of climate change. Mesopotamia is a place where agriculture thrives, but now people are struggling with climate change and drought,” shared 17-year-old Beyza, runner-up in the Earth Prize.
While many young people around the world are marching for climate action, Beyza has leveraged her scientific intellect to develop a “drain-resistant crop solution powered by plasma.” “Since we can’t change the climate, we’re trying to solve its consequences,” says 18-year-old Diyar, who is working on the Plantzma project with Beyza. Along with other young inventors in the Ceres research group, they are participating in the Earth Prize, a global environmental sustainability competition for students.
Beyza explains, “The idea for Plantzma stemmed from the agricultural challenges we observed in our community and family, where farmers faced alarming statistics: a 40% reduction in rainfall leading to an 80% crop failure.” According to the World Economic Forum, the likelihood of global crop failure is projected to increase by 4.5 times by 2030 and 25 times by 2050. This not only impacts farmers’ livelihoods and food security but also leads to overuse of fertilizers, exacerbating the problem with pollution and soil degradation. Beyza and her team are determined to address these issues with Plantzma, a device that harnesses plasma to produce healthier crops and enrich irrigation water.
The Ceres team estimates that, at a price of 176 EUR, a device could prevent crop failures by up to 60% and reduce fertilizer use by up to 40%. “We introduced the product to farmers and they were very happy to see it,” Beyza said. Plasma – the fourth state of matter alongside solid, liquid, and gas – “is essentially supercharged ionized air,” Diyar explained. “Its superheated particles have so much energy that electrons detach from their atoms. Unlike gas, it conducts electricity easily.” Beyza further explained that plasma is rare on Earth but very common in space. Her journey with plasma is a testament to her thirst for knowledge and her ability to go beyond the confines of school. “I thought about using plasma because I love exoplanets,” Beyza recalled.
According to Diyar, “In the direct treatment process, we treat seeds in containers with plasma before cultivation, improving germination rates and growth potential from the outset by creating nano-cracks on the seed surface. This increases resistance to disease, drought, and other environmental stressors. In the indirect treatment process, we treat irrigation water with plasma, enriching the water's properties to benefit plant growth, and this process transforms the water into plasma fertilizer (environmentally friendly, nitrogen-rich), providing essential nutrients to plants and stimulating fruit and vegetable growth.” To make this solution applicable to all regions and terrains, the young inventors are working to raise capital to develop the idea and aim to expand the project internationally.
LAM DIEN
Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/chong-han-bang-nang-luong-plasma-post756004.html
