Mexico. Nopart is a machine that prepares organic paint made with nopal slime extract, lime, salt and water, and whose production and application does not cause contamination like industrial products and does not contain lead is non-toxic.
This project was developed by students of the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN), with the purpose of making ecological and low-cost painting for the benefit of Mexican families looking to improve the image of their home, since it can be used inside and outside homes.
Mariana González García, Carlos Arriaga Limón, Miguel Martínez Martínez and Luis Mendoza Colín, students of the Center for Scientific and Technological Studies (CECyT) 9 "Juan de Dios Bátiz", commented that their machine is designed to obtain a liter of paint in five minutes.
The students of the Digital Systems career explained that the device works with three motors; two of them located at the top, which rotate to take the raw material to the channels that at the end are joined thanks to a funnel where the remains of the nopal remain and the rest passes through another section to be mixed with a motor that rotates for five minutes and thus obtain the paint.
"Before using the machine, you must cut the nopal and let it rest in water for 24 to 48 hours, once that time passes you can add the materials to the machine," said Mariana González García.
To obtain the tonality of the paintings, the students used natural dyes extracted from the juice of some flowers such as jamaica and artificial ones that are used in baking.
The creators detailed that under normal conditions of pressure and temperature the paint can last a year, but if the house is in a very humid area it has a life span of around eight or ten months. As only the nopal slime is used in this project, the waste is recovered and can be cooked or recycled.
Source: National Polytechnic Institute.
