CHINA  SCIENCE  AND  TECHNOLOGY
NEWSLETTER
The Ministry of Science and Technology
People's Republic of China

China-Spain on Wind Power Technology

China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) has recently inked an agreement with EHN and another Spain company, to jointly work on wind power generation. Undersigned parties will collaborate in the following two main areas: wind power generation, including windmill assembly, localization of key components, and further localization of generator and control system; diffusion and application of other renewable energies, and the associated localization, with priorities on diffusion of wheat stalk based power generation and bio-diesel making. 

According to a briefing, the three collaborators will make a joint investment to establish a wind power generation manufacturer in Nantong, Jiangsu Province, and then an R&D center in Beijing, in an attempt to tap up China’s wind power generation market. Nantong Hangtian Wanyuan Anxunneng Wind Power Generator Manufacturer will mainly be responsible for windmill making, and Beijing Hangtian Wanyuan Anxunneng New Energy Co. Ltd. will take care of diffusion of other renewable energies, and marketing, R&D, management, training, and pre-and-post sale services for wind fields. The collaborating parties promised to offer a full support for the future development of the joint venture, striving to be a wind power generation leader in China, and in the world as well.

China-Netherlands Agricultural Cooperation

Cees Veerman, Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality of the Netherlands and his party recently visited the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. During the visit, both sides had an in-depth discussion of future cooperation between two nations in the field of agriculture. Cees Veerman thought highly of the recent accomplishments achieved by China and friendly cooperation between the two nations in agriculture. In 2003, two nations jointly kicked off an international project to sequence potato genome. Starting from 1989, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences has maintained a fruitful cooperation with Dutch Wageningen University in education, academic exchanges, joint laboratory, and cooperative research. Wageningen University has so far provided training opportunities for more than 500 Chinese farming experts, which makes the university one of the overseas universities that cater most training events for Chinese agriculture personnel. The China-Netherlands join lab for vegetable genomics, one of the first key international cooperation projects approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology, has produced several doctorate and Master degree graduates.  The Chinese and Dutch governments invested RMB 9.4 million and Euro 2 million respectively in the construction of the joint lab.

International Optic-Internet Seminar

To enhance global technical exchanges and cooperation in the field of fiber-optic Internet, and to spur up China’s research in the same field and associated telecommunications, the Fourth International Conference on Optic-Internet and a seminar on optic exchange technology were recently held at the Chongqing Post and Communication School. Co-sponsored by the China Institute of Communications and the Chongqing Post and Communication School, the event makes a high-level international academic gathering of its kind held in China. More than 100 optic-internet experts from China, the United States, Japan, Germany, Australia, and Singapore had an extensive discussion of the current status and development of fiber-optic internet technology.

The optic-internet seminar provides a platform for researchers, carriers and vendors in the field of Internet operation and equipment. In the meantime, it creates opportunities for Chinese researchers to share international experience, findings and cooperation on the subject, spurring up research, application and development of optic-internet in China as well as in the world.

China-Belgium Education and Science Exchanges

Not long ago, a China-Belgium education and science exchange event was held in Beijing. Designed to share information and forge cooperation between the two nations in S&T, education, and social sciences, some 50 Chinese university presidents and scientists held talks with their counterparts from Belgium in diverse discussion groups. After the event, Belgium's King Albert II and SHANG Yong, Chinese Vice-Minister of Science and Technology attended a ceremony for Belgian’s donation of Agfa bus to China.

The event was co-sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Education and Belgian Embassy in Beijing. Among the Belgian Loyal Delegation headed by King Albert II were presidents of renowned Belgian universities, famous Belgian scientists in the fields of space, nuclear energy, medical science, animal husbandry, microbiology, superconductor, nanometer, meteorology, and sinologists.  In addition, ESA astronauts and Belgian space medical experts visited China Institute of Space Medical Science and Engineering. Belgian nanometer and superconductor experts visited the Chinese National Nanometer Center, a part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Digital Farming

“Farming technology and the associated demonstration” is a project under the modern farming component of the national 863 program initiated by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology for the tenth five-year period. The project constitutes a preliminary framework for digital farming, or a technology platform for the purpose. Incomplete statistics show that the project has worked out 3 draft technical standards for digital farming, and applied for 42 patents, of which 17 are for invention patent, with 2 grants. In addition, researchers under the project have filed 53 registrations for software copyrights, and rolled out 38 digital farming products of promising market perspectives. The project produced 101 post-graduates, and published 182 papers, of which 26 were collected by SCI or EI. The project also resulted in 9 monographs, and established 26 bases for innovative technologies demonstration and product applications. The new technologies and products have been diffused to an area over 100,000 mu(1mu=0.0667 ha.).

In the area of key digital farming technologies and products, substantial progresses have been achieved in the following aspects: farming information collecting technology, low-cost and high performance products, digital designs for corn and paddy rice strain structures, advanced technical means for breeding super-yield strains and efficient utilization of resources, establishing climate-soil-crop models for wheat, rice, corn, and cotton, and establishing a mathematics and knowledge model based digital crop design system. 

Digital farming technology integration and platform construction applaud for the following accomplishment: a preliminary farming technology platform integrated with both software and hardware, which runs information collection, information processing, and accurate implementation on an operational basis; a preliminary technology platform for digital stock and poultry breeding, which offers a high-tech support for modern breeding industry and raises the management level of large breeding farms; a public technical platform for digital forestry, with data collection standards for digital forestry; and structure designs for digital forestry platform and associated technical standards.

In the area of digital farming applications and demonstrations, application and demonstration bases have been established in Shanghai Pudong, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Xinjiang, and Beijing Xiaotangshan, in an effort to show the merits of digital farming technology, digital field crop technology, and digital conventional farming technology. In the demonstration zones, crop yields enjoy an increase from 15% to 20%, with an enhanced economic return by 10%, a lowered production cost at 10%, raised production efficiency of 20%, and an ascending economic return of 18% for the breeding industry.

Innovative Potato Processing

Potato deep processing techniques and the associated equipment, a key S&T project initiated by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology to improve agrifoods deep processing techniques, has rolled out a range of technologies and equipment for frying potato chips at a normal pressure, with a production capacity ≥300Kg/h. Also rolled out from the project is a set of technology and equipment for high volume extraction of potato starch at a level of10,000 ton, marking a progress in localization of large equipment for potato chip processing.

In addition to solutions for addressing key technical difficulties relating to frying potato chips at a normal pressure, including reducing oil consumption and oil content, and preventing color change, the research team also developed a high performance potato slicing machine and a consecutive fryer, which ensures end products of a high quality with an oil content of ≤38%, water content ≤2%, and oil change interval ≤10h. Using advanced slip-proof technique, researchers developed a potato slicer with lowered ‘back-injuries’, but higher uniformity and surface smoothness. Using other advanced techniques, including shallow mixed frying, roll-back and black-out prevention, and indirect heating, the oil consumption is reduced by 1% to 3%. As a result, waste oil is also reduced. The new frying system can also produce potato sticks in a consecutive manner.

While working on technologies and equipment to extract more potato starch, researchers registered an internationally advanced level for mill’s productivity and raised starch dissociation rate from conventional 92% to current ≥97%, using a number of innovative technologies, including a high speed mill, dual-side durable cutting tools with dense teeth, and fast cutting tool switching. Application of the combined technology for pre-separation and fine spinning increases starch obtaining rate from conventional 90% to current ≥95%, offering a solution for traditional headaches such as low obtaining rate, poor starch quality, and serious contamination using full spinning technique.

Robot Protects Dam Security

A project to develop underwater robots for dam security inspection, jointly undertaken by the Harbin Engineering University and Gansu Great Wall Underwater High-tech Corp. has rolled out a module based high performance robot, integrated with sound, photoelectric and magnetic probe systems, and a navigation sensor. With a name of TB-1 Dam Security Rover, the new system is financed by China’s national 863 program. In January 2005, the robot was sent to inspect dam security at six different sections of the Gezhouba Dam on a trial basis, and was returned with fine results. According to a report, the robot is able to tell possible changes on dam surface and internal structures, in either clean or muddle water environments. With a maximum work depth up to 300m, the successful development of the robot fills up a blank in China’s underwater dam detecting system, providing an innovative and powerful tool for dam security examination, especially in the fields of water resources management and hydraulic power generation. The robot also expects extensive applications in others fields, including offshore oil development, harbor construction, underwater rescue, and salvage.

New Super-yield Breeds

Since the implementation of “fine quality and super-yield new crop species”, a special modern farming project financed by the national 863 program for the tenth five-year period, has achieved substantial progresses in establishing high efficiency breeding technical system, new species screening system, and associated commercial applications. The project has resulted in 64 applications for national invention patent, and 24 national patent grants. It also verified and approved 338 new species of strong market competitiveness, and developed 860 new fine strains. The project filed 62 applications for new species protection at the national level, and 62 has been granted with such rights. New crop varieties have been diffused to grow over an area of 650 million mu on a combined basis, with a direct transfer volume amounting to RMB 150 million, and an output value worth RMB 55.02 billion. Researchers working for the project published 892 papers, of which 70 have been collected by SCI.  The endeavor has led to the establishment of 99 demonstration bases, and to close cooperation ties with 138 large or medium enterprises. The effort also nurtured out 15 high-tech seeds enterprises of market competitiveness, spurring up the sound development of commercial applications of seed breeding in the country.

Soy Protein Enrichment and Purification

Thanks to concerted efforts, soy whey protein enrichment and purification technology and associated commercial applications, a key project initiated by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology for agrifoods deep processing, has achieved substantial progresses. 

Taking advantage of the features of waste soy whey water, the research team developed an innovative oscillation membrane filter that can retrieve whey protein from waste soy whey water. The new system is of strong resistance to contamination. A trial production at a daily capacity of 100 tons of waste whey water shows that the new system offers a contamination resistance several dozen times that of regular membrane filters. The new system can work for 24 hours on a consecutive basis, needing only one hour for cleaning. Resistant to highly contaminated fluids, the system can be used to separate the solids with a concentration up to 2.0%.

In the case treating whey water with COD at 12000mg/L, the super filter is able to reduce COD content to 4000 mg/L. Further treatment brings down COD to 100 mg/L or lower, reaching the standard for direct discharge. The system extracts 70% of protein and 10% of dust from soy whey protein.

Novel Carbon Dioxide Laser

A 500W carbon dioxide laser device, developed by LI Zaiguang, a laser expert working for Wuhan Bolai S&T Co. Ltd., recently passed its verification check in Wuhan. As the first domestic application of five core technologies, including metal cylinder cavity, internal spiral flow, beam divergence, charged blow-in, and cathode air-cooling, the laser system has combined the merits of both overseas axial gas flow carbon dioxide laser device and domestic transverse gas flow version.

With a national invention patent grant, the novel carbon dioxide laser device enhances beam quality, through transforming transverse gas flow into spiral flow within the metal cylinder cavity, though still using a small vacuum pump motor.

       Comments or inquiries on editorial matters or Newsletter content should be directed to:Mr. Mao Zhongying, Department of International Cooperation, MOST 15B, Fuxing Road Beijing 100862, PR China  Tel: (8610)58881360 Fax: (8610) 58881364

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