ShinshuBrand Awards 2023 HappyShinshuGrand Prize for the category "Shindai Crystal"

Nagano Selecting and awarding outstanding brands from the prefectureShinshuBrand Awards. 2023's "Happiness"ShinshuThe theme of the " division was "a brand that provides businesses, products and services created by co-creation innovation."
We would like to introduce the efforts of Shindai Crystal, which won the Grand Prize.

Vol.1 Innovations produced by technology and materials from Shindai University
Vol.2 New possibilities born from the co-creation of Shindai Crystal® and long-established sake breweries

ShinshuUniversity Shindai Crystal Lab
Director/Professor Teshima Katsuya (center of the photo)
Deputy Director Doi Tatsuya (photo left)
Researcher Katani Atsu (right photo)

▲Professor Teshima explains Shindai Crystal®, a single crystal that removes heavy metal ions from water.

▲Gems and minerals are also crystallized by substances in nature. The photo shows an artificially created hexagonal ruby ​​crystal.

The university's outstanding professor Teshima Katsuya has been the center of his research. Professor Teshima, who was assigned to the office in 2005, specializes in crystal chemistry. Crystals are solid substances in which atoms and molecules are arranged regularly, and the properties of the substances are maximized. Taking advantage of this property, single crystal materials such as silicon and quartz are already widely used.

▲A "Shindai Crystal®" water purification plant (from Shindai Crystal® Official X) installed in Tanzania with the cooperation of local people.

Taking advantage of this ability to remove specific substances,ShinshuThe crystalline materials that originated now cross the border and go to Tanzania, Africa. As a demonstration experiment, local groundwater containing high concentrations of fluorine, which can be harmful to excessive intake, is purified using Shindai Crystal®. This water purification plant does not require energy such as electricity or pumps, and when it comes to heavy metal ion removal materials, it uses approximately 100kg of Shindai Crystal®, and is expected to last for 20 years. Furthermore, not only is water purified, it is used not only for drinking, but also for drinking water for livestock and agricultural purposes, making a major contribution to improving lifestyles.

"By utilizing the functions of Shindai Crystal®, we will be able to use it for industrial water, wastewater and wastewater treatment according to the environment and situation of various regions, and will also be able to contribute to water purification treatment in disaster areas and depopulated areas," says Professor Teshima.

▲There is also a corner introducing Shindai Crystal® and NaTiO on the university campus.

"It's important not only to purify water, but to make it tastier. Even if it's for the environment, if it's convenient and not tasty, it won't last or recommend it to others. It's enough if it's even cheaper," says Professor Teshima. As a result, water purifiers using Shindai Crystal® are now being introduced in restaurants and other places, but Professor Teshima's challenges are expanding even further.

"There are a wide variety of fields in which crystalline materials live, and they can be expanded to all areas of the next generation. We believe that we can also realize a recycling city based on hydrogen energy derived from water, and we have a wealth of water resources.ShinshuI would like to take an approach that is set as "Water Town."

Shindai Crystal® is a high-quality, highly functional crystal material that is attracting attention as a solution to the world's water problems. The great thing about this is that you can arrange the features according to your purpose. For example, the aqua spot "swee" equipped with Shindai Crystal® allows you to remove only the substances you want to remove, and the substances you want to keep, so that after removing heavy metal ions, you can remove heavy metal ions and leave the minerals of the water.

▲Maruse Sake Brewery was founded in 1870. This is the only one in the prefecture that uses glutinous rice.

▲After working in Tokyo and working in the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, Seki returned to his hometown and took over the family business.

The first of these products was produced for generations since the Meiji era, "Semasamune," a famous sake made with "hot-cut four-stage glutinous rice."Nakano CityMaruse Sake Brewery is a long-established sake brewery. Young, fifth-generation head of the family, Seki Shinji, follows traditional manufacturing methods, and also participates in the 59 brewery heir unit of the same generation. I have been working hard with my friends and working on numerous cutting-edge sake brewing.

▲Previously, it was an electric water purifier, but now it can be purified using the water pressure of the water supply.

"Our brewery uses water supply and well water, which contain underground water from Shiga Kogen, to be used for water supply, but even a small amount of water passes through pipes, it contains ingredients such as iron and manganese, which have a negative effect on sake brewing. For this reason, we used an ion-exchange resin water purifier, but the minerals necessary for the activity of the yeast are also removed, and in fact it has become a water with no individuality. We want to make the most of the water we have in our local water. We feel that this is the true form of local sake, but we are unable to fully utilize the local water. We are facing this dilemma."

In particular, Mr. Seki has been receiving a lot of questions about water content as demand has increased overseas recently, and there are many purchasing groups who value regionality, so he is often asked about the water content. It is believed that the underground water of Shiga Kogen, which contains melted snow, contains moderate minerals, so he felt that there was no way to make good use of it. I think Shindai Crystal® will solve these problems. This thought led to the first introduction in the food industry.

▲ "Heat-covered 4-stage glutinous rice" is a rare method that only a few breweries have been used in the country. The photo shows the sake rice prepared for the next day.

In addition, in terms of production, the mainstream sake brewing is "three-stage preparation" in which the ingredients are added in three parts while watching the yeast and then slowly fermenting, but Marusei Sake Brewing is also more laborious, and "4-stage preparation" in which steamed glutinous rice is added to the fourth tier. The temperature was suddenly changed by filling up the glutinous rice that remained hot at the end of the yeast, resulting in a lack of stability in the yeast, but using Shindai Crystal®, the yeast fermented soundly in the three-stage preparation stage, so even with the four-stage preparation, the yeast activity was stabilized, reducing the stress of sake brewing.