Nguyen Van Toan, a farmer from Xuan Son village, Duc Minh commune, Dak Mil district, Dak Nong province, is nearly 60 years old and has only completed the sixth grade. His son dropped out of college to manage the family business, while Toan purchased university textbooks to study and invent practical technologies for everyday life.
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Toan has self-taught computer skills to gather information online and design machinery and structures. |
In 2005, Toan traveled to Ho Chi Minh City with two inventions: the “Multi-stage Pulp Cooking Technology Using Chemicals” and the “Vertical Dryer for Agricultural Products and Building Materials.” He participated in the Vietnam Technology Equipment Fair organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology in October.
Toan received a gold cup from the fair’s organizers for his useful products, along with numerous collaboration and order requests from businesses.
His inventions came about by chance as he sought solutions to challenges in his work. In the early 1980s, while serving as the chairman of the Duc Minh Cooperative, Toan purchased a paper mill from a private enterprise in Ho Chi Minh City and began experimenting with production based on the previous owner’s guidance.
At that time, acquiring chemicals was extremely difficult, so Toan had to find a way to reduce the amount of sodium hydroxide used in the cooking process. Just as he was on the brink of success, the cooperative members lost patience with the unprofitable mill. They decided to sell the mill, resulting in Toan losing his position as chairman.
It was not until 1999 that Toan had the opportunity to continue his research project that he had abandoned nearly 20 years earlier. He learned through television about the Vinh Hao Forestry Company in Bac Quang district, Ha Giang province, which processed pulp.
Toan traveled by bus to the forestry company and proposed to test a new cooking method with a commitment to shorter cooking times and reduced chemical usage.
In less than a week, he left the Vinh Hao Forestry Company with a confirmation letter stating: “To produce 1 ton of pulp, the Vinh Hao mill previously required 500 to 550 kg of sodium hydroxide, but with Toan’s technology, the mill can achieve this using only 350 kg without changing any equipment.”
If nearly 300 pulp mills in Vietnam adopted Toan’s technology, it could save hundreds of billions of dong in chemical costs annually, not to mention the environmental benefits.
The Intellectual Property Department of the Ministry of Science and Technology granted Toan a utility solution patent (number 397) for “Multi-stage Pulp Cooking Solution Using Chemicals.”
To finance the construction of a pulp mill with an annual capacity of 20,000 tons, Toan started by establishing an agricultural service cooperative specializing in trading agricultural products, which led to the development of his second scientific project.
While processing agricultural products, Toan noticed that traditional drying ovens with horizontal drying surfaces wasted fuel, required excessive labor, and negatively impacted product quality.
He designed a new type of dryer with vertical drying surfaces to utilize hot air effectively, allowing materials to dry in separate layers without being disturbed, resulting in quicker drying without smoke residue or damage.
Since he had no prior experience in mechanics, creating this new dryer consumed a lot of Toan’s effort, but he persevered and ultimately succeeded.
With support from his son, who was studying at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, Toan completed the technology documentation for the vertical dryer and submitted it to the National Technical Innovation Contest, 7th Edition, where he received a consolation prize in the field of agricultural product preservation and processing. A private mechanical enterprise purchased the patent for Toan’s vertical dryer for 50 million dong.
When we visited him at home, Toan was engrossed at his computer, meticulously designing another project: a wastewater treatment system for pulp mills.
After touring various pulp mills, Toan was shocked to discover that the investment for constructing a wastewater treatment system was even greater than that for building the mill itself. Some mills had to shut down shortly after starting operations due to the high costs of running their wastewater treatment systems.
Toan invited his son back from university to manage the cooperative while he focused on researching wastewater treatment technology.
He enthusiastically shared that his wastewater treatment technology was undergoing a review phase, and he planned to register for a utility solution patent next year while seeking investors to collaborate in building the pulp mill.
According to Toan, his wastewater treatment system would only account for about one-sixth of the total investment for the mill, and operational costs would be minimal because the system effectively separates different types of waste.
Vo Phung Hoang
