TOMSK, Sep 20 – RIA Tomsk. Soda production plant using technology developed by Tomsk State University (TSU) scientists can be built by "Sibsteklo" Novosibirsk
company, its development director Sergey Lukyantsev told RIA Tomsk; he
specified that pilot tests of experimental and industrial plant were
successful, annual production of natural soda can be up to 150 thousand tons.
Commodity independence
"We have completed the first stage of testing of the
experimental-industrial plant created using the technology of the Engineering
Center of Chemical Technology of Tomsk State University (TSU ECCT). It allows
to produce soda ash from natural soda. There is still much work to be done, but
today we can already say that the desired result is high probability will be
obtained", – Lukyantsev said.
"Sibsteklo" – is one of the largest Russian
factories producing glass containers for the food industry. And soda – is one
of the two main components of a glass charge (along with quartz sand). In the
country it is produced in two places – in Bashkiria and in the Crimea. "We
depend heavily on suppliers' prices. Prices for soda and its delivery are
growing permanently. Therefore we would like to have our own source of raw
materials", – says Lukyantsev.
According to him, a feasibility study for industrial
production now is being prepared, a decision on the construction of a plant
using Tomsk technology will be made in the first quarter of 2020. Annual
production can be up to 150 thousand tons, it is ecofriendly and safe for the
environment.
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Soda production unit
Technological sprint
As the head of the TSU ECCT Alexey Knyazev explained
RIA Tomsk, the technology was created for a specific field, for the development
of which the customer has a license – Mikhailovsky natural soda deposit in the
Altai Krai, located on the Tanatar Lakes.
"The Tanatar Lakes are unique – under them there
is a lens of several million tons of soda. The lens itself cannot be touched,
but each year as a result of surface runoff, about 150 thousand tons of natural
soda, which can be obtained, comes to the Lakes. The problem is that in the
natural source contains a mixture of salts, from which a substance with a very
high purity must be isolated", – he said.
TSU scientists proposed ten technologies for
extracting soda from a salt mixture, each worked in the laboratory, as a
result, the engineers of the Engineering Center of Chemical Technology of Tomsk
State University (TSU ECCT) together with the customer chose two that were
tested on an experimental-industrial scale this year. For each of them were
obtained prototypes of the product, fully consistent with the technical
specifications.
"A few days ago, the TSU ECCT scientists
presented to the customer a report on the work done and preliminary estimates
of the economic parameters of the planned production. Based on the results of
their consideration, for the final detailed study of both the process
technology and its feasibility study, one technology was selected according to
which the works will continue until the end of the current calendar year",
– Lukyantsev said.
"Usually chemical technologies have been developed for years, and we
managed to do it quickly – for a year and a half from the moment the customer
contacted us. At the moment we received several hundred kilograms of the
product, developed the initial data for the design of the plant using our
technology. If the decision on construction is made, the TSU ECCT will carry
out supervision at the stages of design, construction and operation of
production", – Knyazev said.
© РИА Томск. Элеонора Черная
Alexey Knyazev