Chemical-free disinfectant to fight Covid-19 pandemic

Team L&M

To disinfect hands and environmental surfaces, Pune-based start-up Biosolutions, supported jointly by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Department of Biotechnology (DBT), has come up with a non-alcoholic aqueous-based colloidal silver solution uniquely made from its NanoAgCide technology.

This liquid is non-inflammable and free of hazardous chemicals. It can be an effective sanitiser to prevent the spread of the infection through contact – the prime method of transmission of the pandemic, thereby protecting health professionals and other infected people.

The colloidal silver solution of Weinnovate Biosolutions, which is based on the ability of the silver nanoparticles to prevent the synthesis of viral negative-strand RNA and viral budding, is free from hazardous chemicals and has no risk of in-flammability compared to alcohol-based disinfectants.

The solution has undergone lab testing and the manufacturers have received the test license. Preliminary work on synthesising colloidal silver in a small scale and scale-up batch up to 5 litres has been conducted with reproducibility.

“We are aiming to manufacture primarily a minimum of 200 litres of colloidal silver solution per day with our manufacturing set up to cater to the demand of hand sanitisation and disinfection. With our solution, we are positive to reduce the number in infection spread and helping India to be infection-free,” said Dr Milind Choudhari, one of the founders of Weinnovate Biosolutions.

“Nanoparticles are rapidly emerging as effective solutions to a variety of issues related to COVID-19, from theranostics (therapy plus diagnostics) to disinfection to imaging. The relevance of nanoparticles is owing to their size (less than 100 nm), which is comparable to that of COVID-19 virus, and a plethora of functionalities such as targeting and drug delivery that can be tailored,” added Prof Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Department of Science & Technology.