ICE Issue 9

59 The Israel Chemist and Chemical Engineer Issue 9 · January 2023 · Tevet 5783 Report model of circular production between five collaborating companies. The park demonstrates a circular economy with zero waste, with every byproduct of one plant becoming a resource for others. Compost Or receives about half a million tons of organic materials, such as municipal biosolids and agricultural waste, annually. The company recycles organic wastes into a rich, reviving soil conditioner using composting technology that was optimized over the past 20 years. The composting technology produces valuable fertilizers for Israeli farmers and prevents environmentally harmful alternatives, such as incineration, which releases greenhouse gases, or landfills, which contaminate soil and groundwater. Compost Or’s research team has collaborated with agricultural R&D over the years. It is the only compost manufacturer in Israel that tests the quality of its product by growing crops in an R&D greenhouse. Compost Or has set up a facility for contaminated soil bio-remediation within the OR Recycling Park. They receive truckloads of soi l contaminated with organic pollutants, such as fuels and oils, and decontaminate such soils using biological remediation technologies. For example, the team has recently developed an innovative method to purify soils contaminated by explosive materials. Fertilo allows farmers and gardeners a way to nourish soils with valuable nutrients while building a living and healthy soil. Their flagship product, Cuftior™, is a concentrated slowrelease organo-mineral fertilization pellet. It allows precision fertilization close to the plant’s roots. Fertilo’s R&D team developed Cuftior™ pellets in cooperation with the Institute for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University, Israel. Fertilo uses nutrient-rich biosolids mixed with shredded green wood waste, making Cuftior™ a preferred choice for cultivating fields and gardens. Ecologz aims to provide a national-scale solution to the polluting agricultural fires that adversely affect the general population.They also help Israeli poultry farmers raise healthy broilers without antibiotics. The Ecologz team met both challenges with their SecuriPad™, a biosecurity bedding for poultry farming. The company uses local raw materials from agricultural plantations or forest trimmings. Thus, polluted piles of plant trimmings undergo cleaning and screening stages, followed by compressing and steam sterilization. The product, SecuriPad, offers excellent absorption and evaporation capability, preventing pathogen development and poultry infections. Earth Biochar develops and manufactures charcoal-like materials using anaerobic pyrolysis. CompoChar™ is a soilless growing medium with excellent water-holding capacity and drainage balance, an internal nutrient reservoir that makes advisor, and a consultant rather than an administrative assistant. Sarah has revolutionized the work of the Dean’s office, dealing with a significant number of topics. In addition to all her duties as an executive assistant to the Dean, she has constantly sought new tasks to take upon herself beyond the formal job description, such as building new websites, introducing an online ordering system for departmental equipment, and dealing with construction planning. As the coordinator of the Faculty Promotions Committee, she developed a computerized tool to follow the complex process of appointments and promotions and obtain valuable statistics. She is also guiding the construction process of the new building for the Faculty of Chemistry. In 2017, Sarah received the Faculty of Chemistry’s outstanding employee award. The 2021 ICS-Dalia Cheshnovsky Prize for excellence in teaching was awarded to two teachers. Ms. Edna Friedman from Horev Ulpana in Jerusalem and the Tehilla-Evelina de Rothschild Secondary School, received the prize for her many years of achievements as a high-school chemistry teacher, as an instructor of chemistry teachers in the Jerusalem district, and as a national leader, for implementing diverse and innovative teaching methods, and for educating many generations of students to love chemistry and good citizenship. Ms. Orit Weinstock of the Har-Tuv High School received the prize for her many years of achievements as a teacher and coordinator of the chemistry program, as a guide for the chemistry teachers in the southern district and at the national level, for developing innovative teaching methods, and for making chemistry one of the most popular programs at Har-Tuv School. The 2021 ICS-Peled Prize for outstanding high-school projects was awarded to Avishag Samara from the Gymnasia Realit, Rishon Lezion, and Tahel Amzaleg fromOrt Kramim, Karmiel. Avishag won the prize for her research on the effect of a point mutation on the thermodynamic properties of dihydrofolate reductase. Her supervisor was Dr. Ilia Korobko of the Weizmann Institute of Science. Tahel won the prize for her research on the use of polymers for the development of a mobile artificial kidney. Her supervisor was Prof. Moris Eisen of the Schulich Faculty of Chemistry at the Technion. The ICS-Peled Prize is awarded yearly in memory of Itan Peled who died in the 1995 Arad disaster. The 2022 ICS Prize for the Green Chemical Industry was awarded to Daniel Unger (CEO) and David Reiner (Operation Officer) of OR Recycling Park for applying advanced technologies to convert organic wastes into valuable agricultural products, including composts, organo-mineral fertilizers, broiler beddings, and biochar growing substrates. OR Recycling Park, located in the Jordan Valley, is a working

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