Mangaluru varsity’s CARER labs help check authenticity of biogenic products Premium

Industries, manufacturers, suppliers and exporters dealing with products naturally extracted from plants (biogenic) have been approaching Mangalore University for sometime now. It is to validate and ensure that the products they are dealing with are derived from natural-sourced ingredients and free from adulteration.

Industries, manufacturers, suppliers and exporters dealing with products naturally extracted from plants (biogenic) have been approaching Mangalore University for sometime now. It is to validate and ensure that the products they are dealing with are derived from natural-sourced ingredients and free from adulteration.

The genuineness of the products is tested at the Centre for Advanced Research in Environmental Radioactivity (CARER) at the university by conducting the Carbon-14 test. The centre, having six laboratories, extended its Carbon-14 test facility recently to petrochemical industries to test the bio-fuel content in blended fuels (a combination of biofuel and conventional petroleum fuel) and aeroplane turbine fuel (also referred to as sustainable aviation fuel).

Mineral exporting and importing industries, glass manufacturers and mining industries also use the facilities at the CARER to test radio activity level in their products by using gamma spectrometry method.

It was in 2014 that the Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences (BRNS), under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), funded about rupees six crore to the university for Carbon-14 studies in the environmental matrices as part of radiation protection studies in the Kaiga region, where a nuclear power plant is operational.

As a result, the CARER took birth at the university in June, 2015. The centre was established for research on radioecology and radiation protection and to support fellow researchers from other institutions of the county. One of the BRNS funding objectives was to standardise methods for Carbon 14 and tritium (a radioactive isotope of hydrogen that is unstable and emits beta radiation) measurements in nuclear power plants. The centre was dedicated to the nation as a national facility on June 10, 2016.

“The facilities are now of great help to industries that otherwise depend on laboratories in Europe or the USA to test commercial products, saving valuable time, reducing costs and overcoming the difficulties associated with sending the samples abroad for testing,” Karunakara Naregundi, Professor and Head, CARER, told The Hindu.

In addition to collaborating with many advanced laboratories worldwide, the centre serves the research needs of various research groups from national laboratories, institutions and universities, he said. The CARER is now celebrating its decennial year.