Guot is used for handicrafts, roofing and fuel

The idea of creating activated carbon from guot was initiated by Mai Thi Nga, a lecturer at Ha Tay Community Junior College. 

“Guot was part of the childhood of my teacher, Dr Nguyen Ngoc Minh, a lecturer at the Environment Faculty at the Hanoi University of Natural Sciences,” she said.

Guot is used for handicrafts, roofing and fuel. There had been no scientific research work on the plant until Nga set to work on it under instructions from Dr Minh.

Guot plant has rhizomes growing underground which spread strongly. It can live in severe conditions and poor soil. 

Guot is known as fuel with high carbon content and the capability of absorbing CO2. During the Azolla event in the middle Eocene epoch, or 49 million years ago, the plant absorbed about ten trillion tons of CO2 from the Earth's atmosphere, or more than 200 times bigger than the amount of CO2 emitted by human beings each year.

During business trips to Ha Giang, Nga, seeing locals carrying big guot barrels on their back, and her teacher decided to create activated carbon tablets from guot to ease their work and bring higher income.

Later, Nga presented her idea at the competition for startups for environmental protection organized by the US Embassy. Her Fern Project (Future’s Energy & Environment Resource for Nation) got second prize for newly established startups.

When participating in the competition, Nga realized that the value of guot plant could not be used up, so she decided to create activated carbon for cosmetics and protective masks as well.

“Its carbon content is 2-3 times higher than other activated carbon products now available,” she said.

With a hollow and porous structure, activated carbon from guot is different from other materials such as sawdust and rice husk.

Some activated carbon products made from sawdust and rice husk, when activated, can only generate 300-500 beta (beta is an important parameter that indicates the absorbent capacity of activated carbon), a very small figure, explained Do Minh Thanh, director of Sanova Vietnam.

Products such as activated carbon protective masks and specialized water filters need to have a beta indicator of at least 800. Fern’s experiments found very satisfactory results with a beta indicator over 900.

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