By Botswana Institute for Technology Research and Innovation - BITRI
The Nanomaterials Division transforms Botswana’s abundant natural resources into innovative products for health, energy, water and mining. Leveraging world‑class equipment at the Centre for Material Science (CMS), we lead cutting‑edge research and provide advanced testing services for industry, government and academia. We build value added materials for advancing sustainable economic development and one health- pairing research excellence with certification grade testing and industry partnerships. Biotechnology for One Health Rapid diagnostic kits for animal diseases; next-generation sequencing for health. - POC assay development - NGS workflows & analysis Filtration & Medical Applications Advanced filtration for clean water, air and wastewater; composites for medical use. - Water & air purification media - Biomedical composites & coatings Specialty Chemicals & Mineral Beneficiation Clean coal, gasification to fuels/chemicals, carbon nanomaterials, and extraction of base metals & PGMs. - Process development & scale-up - Catalysis & carbon materials Why Nanomaterials @ BITRI? World‑class CMS equipment, ISO 17025 workflows and deep domain expertise across health, energy, water and mining. Services we offer Delivered through the ISO 17025-accredited Centre for Material Science (CMS). Material Characterisation Surface imaging, elemental mapping, metal quality, failure analysis and diamond ID. Material Thermal Analysis Thermal stability, decomposition, melting points, drug stability and crystallisation. Mineral Geological Analysis Mineral composition, beneficiation studies and green mining solutions. Oil & Fuel Analysis Testing of potable/industrial water, lubricants and fuels for quality and contamination. Water Analysis Our Water Analysis service provides detailed testing of various water sources to determine their elemental composition. Mineral Beneficiation Extraction of base metals from waste e.g. mine tailings. Coal gasification Green Technology in Mining Carbon Sequestration-Focuses on reducing mining’s carbon footprint. Material Characterisation - Surface Morphology (imaging) - Elemental Mapping (elemental distribution) - Component metal quality comparison - Metal grade determination - Metal heat treatment condition determination - Failure analysis - Diamond identification including micro diamonds Thermal & Chemical Analysis - Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA): Thermal stability, decomposition, phase changes. - Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC): Glass transitions (Tg), melting points (Tm), crystallisation (Tc). - Drug stability and polymorphism analysis. Mineral & Geological Testing - Elemental Composition for exploration - Mineral Type identification & quantification - Geological Material Identification or verification - GC-FID Analysis (Gas Chromatography with Flame Ionization Detection) Oil & Fuel Analysis - Oil base condition/quality monitoring - Oil properties analysis - Machine wear by elemental analysis - Oil contamination by (water, coolant, fuel, soot) - Oil degradation (viscosity, oxidation, nitration, TAN) - Fuel integrity Water Analysis Elemental composition of - Potable water - Mining process water - Borehole water pH determination Conductivity measurements Key innovations Point-of-care veterinary diagnostics Rapid kits for local livestock industries. Clean coal technologies Sustainable energy and chemical production pathways. Advanced filtration materials Membranes tackling water scarcity and pollution. Carbon nanomaterials & catalysis Catalytic processes for industrial applications. Partner with the Nanomaterials Division From lab discovery to accredited testing—let’s build solutions for Botswana.
