TOMSK, Jan 21 – RIA Tomsk. Scientists of Tomsk State University (TSU) are developing new
sorbents for air purification from volatile organic compounds; one of these materials
is made from waste of food production, in particular breweries, senior
researcher of the Laboratory of Catalytic Research of the Faculty of Chemistry
Grigory Mamontov told RIA Tomsk on Wednesday.
He clarified that the project has been
implemented since 2019 under a grant from the Russian Foundation for Basic
Research. Until the end of 2021, scientists will have to develop sorption
materials (and approaches for their production) with a hierarchical porous
structure to clean the air from volatile organic compounds that have a negative
impact on the environment and human health.
"The project is ecological and is
aimed at purifying the air from toxic or foul-smelling compounds that are
emitted during the operation of chemical, pharmaceutical, food and other
enterprises. We are developing approaches to obtain unique porous materials for
air purification from very cheap natural raw materials or even industrial
waste", – Grigory Mamontov said.
Get the best out of two approaches
The scientist explained that one of the
most effective and promising ways of air purification is the use of sorbents.
However, they have a limited sorption capacity, which makes it necessary to
regularly replace sorbents or regenerate.
Catalysts can also be used for air purification,
but here there are conditions: catalysts operate at elevated temperatures
(200-400 degrees C), which makes their use energy-intensive. In addition, the
catalysts used today are expensive because they contain platinum or palladium.
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"The essence of our approach is in
combining sorption and catalytic approaches by creating bifunctional porous
sorption-catalytic materials. We combine the advantages of sorbents and
catalysts, eliminating their drawbacks by combining the stage of sorbent
regeneration with catalytic oxidation of volatile organic compounds to safe CO2
and water", – he said.
Chemists of TSU have already developed
and patented one new sorbent – a highly porous material based on diatomite and
organometallic polymer frameworks.
"The peculiarity is that a very
cheap natural material is used to obtain the material – diatomite. It is also a
waste in some food industries, in particular at the Tomsk brewery, where it is
used in filtering beer", – the agency's interlocutor explained.
He emphasized that the project is both
fundamental and applied. Scientists will be able to implement it in practical
application with the support of industrial partners. Already today, together
with the TSU Engineering Chemical Technological Center (ECTC LLC), a number of
technical solutions are being developed, and the market analysis of such
technologies is being carried out.
"We are ready to promote this
project and create a technology for obtaining a sorbent for a specific task,
depending on the needs of a particular enterprise, the specifics of the
volatile organic compounds released. For example, for some Tomsk chemical and
food enterprises, we can supply an appropriate system with our sorbents and
catch these smelling or dangerous substances", – Mamontov summed up.