Ukrainian scientists in the fight for the environment and new energy sources

Everyone, without exception, loudly declares the need to preserve the environment and save energy. Large sums are spent on discussing issues, various organizations are created that send their members at the expense of the state to adopt the experience of foreign colleagues (usually without result). Various forums, round tables, conferences are held, while Ukrainian scientists are developing solutions to energy, environmental, economic problems.

Single copies of the Institute of Energy Technologies developments have already been implemented in production. Tripolskaya TPP tested a special burner on a boiler with a capacity of 300 MW. The specially developed burner reduces the consumption of natural gas, which is used for burning anthracite, by 5 times.

Another invention of Ukrainian scientists is a lintel for communal boilers, thanks to which it is possible to replace expensive gas with cheaper brown coal. Among the latest developments is a circulating fluidized bed boiler, which is necessary for the Donetsk Metallurgical Plant. This plant is the property of the Energo concern, whose activities are aimed at coal mining, its enrichment, and metal smelting. It was decided to use coal enrichment waste - cake - in metallurgical production. It is planned to convert excess thermal energy into electrical energy using the boiler, thanks to which the company will be able to enter the energy market. This project was developed by specialists from the Institute of Coal Technologies together with the design bureau of the Energomashproekt Institute.

First of all, such boilers allow to significantly reduce the cost of energy resources, as well as to effectively use waste from the coal industry - sludge and cake. Over the long history of coal mining, millions of tons of such waste have accumulated, they occupy large areas, pollute the earth, etc. The accumulation of coal waste has already become an environmental problem. With the help of new technologies, waste is burned almost to the state of ash, which can then be used for agricultural needs or the production of building materials. In addition, with old coal enrichment technologies, not all the carbon was used during combustion, the waste retained a lot of unused fuel, which can now be burned with a new circulating fluidized bed boiler and receive electrical and thermal energy.

The Gas Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine is also concerned with the problems of rational use of waste and obtaining cheap energy. In Bortnichi, near Kiev, there is an aeration station - engineering structures, communications, equipment that purify Kyiv's wastewater. This station purifies not only household waste, but also liquid waste that remains after industrial enterprises. Such industrial liquid waste accumulates in aeration fields, where it begins to ferment, resulting in the formation of biological gas - a mixture of carbon dioxide and methane.

Methane is extremely dangerous for the environment. The Kyoto Protocol adopted in Japan obliges countries to burn methane, thereby converting it into carbon dioxide, which does not have such a destructive effect on the ozone layer. This is what was done before – methane was burned in large flares. But this process is extremely wasteful for such an energy-independent state as Ukraine. Scientists from the Gas Institute have come to the conclusion that biogas can be used as fuel, thereby obtaining energy – thermal and electrical. Scientists have created a small experimental power plant that provides electricity and heat to the entire aeration station.

Methane is formed not only when liquid waste is burned, it is abundant in city dumps, where food waste rots for decades. One of the institute's developments makes it possible to extract electricity and gas for heating directly from garbage heaps. A well is drilled in the thickness of garbage waste, from which methane enters a special installation that resembles a diesel generator. All this turns a pile of garbage into a source of heat and energy.

Probably the most valuable invention of scientists is the installation, with the help of which medical waste is processed. This installation allows to utilize all harmful substances, the burning of which is harmful not only for the environment, but also for humans (plastic, toxic waste, pesticides). The installation is small in size and easy to move, the introduction of such a device would help to clean the earth from the huge mass of garbage that accumulates near each settlement. Garbage remains in place for years, there are dumps with pesticides, which are washed away by rain over time, getting underground, and poisoning groundwater. Such waste cannot be subject to conventional incineration, since a number of toxic substances are released, in this case only disposal is necessary. Such installations are made for Lithuania and China, where they are used with pleasure. Perhaps, over time, such a technology will appear in our country, which will help to get rid of accumulated garbage and toxic waste.

At one exhibition, specialists from the Institute of Physical Chemistry presented a catalyst that neutralizes exhaust gases in an internal combustion engine, which cause the greenhouse effect. Also, state enterprises are created at the institutes that practically use the achievements of science. Among them, one can single out an enterprise for processing butyl rubber (chambers, diaphragms, etc.). In the process, waste rubber and waste from rubber industry enterprises are converted into butyl regenerate, a material that is widely used as anti-corrosion, waterproofing, sealing building materials and in road construction, bridge construction.

All this is only a small part of scientific developments of Ukrainian scientists, which, unfortunately, have not received wide application. Innovations require significant costs, but the benefit to society and the earth as a whole is incomparable with any money.