Italian industrial gas company SIAD has presented its new research centre dedicated to the study and development of innovative gas mixtures and their automated and robotic production for food, environmental, medical and pharmaceutical use.
Unveiled at the site of SIAD’s Osio Sopra production plant in Bergamo, Italy, the company’s Gases of Life District research centre is the result of a €16m ($17m) investment made by the company to advance research in key sectors.
The investment was approved to receive benefits under the Sustainable Growth Fund in the amount of €3.5m ($3.7m), based on the Innovation Agreement between the Ministry of Economic Development, the Lombardy Region and SIAD.
According to SIAD, the new Gases of Life District is equipped with cutting-edge laboratories complete with technologies and equipment for the production and analysis of gas mixtures.
Designed to encourage collaboration with external research bodies, the laboratory spaces include dedicated testing areas and features control, monitoring and traceability systems to always ensure safety.
“With this operation, SIAD confirms that it is a company increasingly devoted to innovation, a widespread value in SIAD, and able to meet the challenge of future research,” said Bernardo Sestini, CEO of the SIAD Group.
To promote sustainability, the company has also integrated energy efficient systems into the new District, in addition to renewable energy sources such as solar panels and intelligent management technologies.
Spanning an area of 2,600m2, the District will cover a range of specialised research trees
As part of a collaboration with the Mario Negri Institute, SIAD worked to develop a gas mixture that was shown to have protective effects on neurons after a stroke.
Another key area of research includes the preparation and development of metrological mixtures.
Equipped with access to 400 different compounds, researchers at the laboratory can prepare gas mixtures to be used as metrological references to calibrate measuring instruments and for analyses in the field of medicines and diagnostics.
Other notable focus areas include research on bioaerosols, greenhouses, atmospheric particulates, and gas microbiology in addition to how oxygen and ozone can be used for the removal of micropollutants from wastewater and sludge.
A significant part of the District is dedicated to automated production. At the site, the robotic system manages the filling process of gas mixtures into the cylinders completely autonomously.
“The openness to the creation of links, some already in place, with other public and private research centres, an approach that has always characterised SIAD’s research activities, will be strengthened towards key sectors, such as medical, agrifood and environmental, which are strategic for sustainable growth for all stakeholders,” added Sestini.
