TEKNOFEST, organized in Adana under the main leadership of the Turkish Technology Team Foundation and the Ministry of Industry and Technology, with TRT as a communication partner, offers students the opportunity to present their successful projects in various fields.
Balıkesir Martyr Prof. Dr. The “SAP10İN” team, consisting of students from İlhan Varank Science and Art Center, presented the project they developed, which focuses on providing natural solutions to fight forest fires.
The students obtained “saponin,” a chemical compound from the root of soapwort, and found that the mixture they obtained by mixing this substance with water had a much faster extinguishing effect than water.
The SAP10İN team, which applied for the “Climate Change Research Projects” competition within TEKNOFEST, was selected first in the “Environment” category.
“Permanent foam is created”
Team captain Emine İrem Akıcı explained that when fighting forest fires, chemicals are mixed with water, which, although they extinguish the fire in the short term, cause serious problems in the long term.
Akıcı stated that due to their research on natural substances that can prevent fire from coming into contact with oxygen, they came across the saponin compound contained in the root of soapwort and gave the following information:
“Soapwort is a plant that is abundant in our country and grows in Anatolia. When this substance is shaken with water, a permanent foam is created. This foam covers the burning material, breaks the contact with oxygen and ensures that the fire is extinguished.” By combining the saponin substance with borax and zinc chloride, it has fire-extinguishing properties. “We also added its flame retardant property.”
Stating that they conducted controlled fire experiments to test the product they developed, Akıcı continued his words as follows:
“We carried out these fire tests on oaks, beeches, red pines and larches. As a result of the experiment, we saw that the fire extinguisher we obtained was more successful than the water and other chemical fire extinguishers used today. If we look at it, we have reduced the extinguishing times with water to half. “This is a very good win for us because it means the shortest time and the least damage when extinguishing the fire.”
Akıcı added that they came first in the environmental category and received their awards from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and that they had an unforgettable experience.
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