Crown Prince of Belgium Visits KACST

Crown Prince of Belgium  Prince Phillipe visited KACST’s headquarters today accompanied by a delegation of high ranking Belgian officials and businesspersons where they were welcomed by Dr. Mohammed ibn Ibrahim Al-Suwaiyel KACST President, Prince Dr. Turki bin Saud bin Mohammad Al Saud Vice President for Research Institutes and number of KACST officials and researchers.
After a reception meeting, the Belgian Crown prince and his companions watched a documentary film illustrating efforts exerted by KACST in fields of supporting scientific research and activating its activities on the kingdom level besides KACST achievements in various scopes and areas of science and technology.
The honorable guest and his companions identified KACST’s efforts in the field of aerospace sciences through a presentation by specialized researches that included space images, services offered by KACST Space Research Institute and three dimensional space maps of a number of the kingdom’s regions.
The visiting prince and accompanying delegation inspected equipment and labs of the National Center for Nanotechnology Research such as the laboratory of Electronic microscopes including the penetrating electronic microscope and scanning electronic microscope besides applications of these electronic microscopes in analyzing materials, capturing images with nano-measurements and analyzing elements of these materials.
The distinguished guest listened into a comprehensive review of the centre itself, the strategy of the kingdom in nano-technology as one of strategic technologies that are in the core of the kingdom’s interest, KACST adherence to  international cooperation with well-established universities and research centers in this field such as  KACST’s joint cooperation with IBM Corporation through International Excellence Center for research in applications of nanotechnology and doing studies and advanced researches in fields of water desalination, sun energy and petrochemicals.
The visit program of the Belgian Crown Prince included a visit to Petroleum and Petrochemicals Research Institute where he visited number of projects and units such as the unit of Clean Fuel where KACST researchers could produce catalyzers to produce the clean fuel by using nanotechnology to enhance the quality of gasoline and diesel fuels. The Belgian Crown Prince also inspected the project of recycling plastic materials where researchers could transfer two of the most plastic wastes into industrial fibers that could be woven to make carpets and moquette and could be also used into other products such as flowerpots, furniture or what is known as wooden plastic.
Energy Research Institute was the next stop for the Belgian Crown Prince and accompanying delegation where they were briefed about researches and special studies in this field and the latest results achieved by the institute in Fuel Cells centre and technologies of using liquid fuel such as gasoline and diesel in operating fuel cells. The honorable guest and his companions toured some other sections of the institute and other projects carried out by researchers such as the project of producing nanometric carbon tubes.