Regional Festival of Invention: INRTU students presented environmental and construction projects
NRTU employees Anastasia Shatrova and Anna Shkibo took the third place at the regional festival of invention. The jury highly appreciated the Polytechnic students’ project, which was dedicated to freezing sludge-lignin precipitation. The event took place on June 25 at the Regional Scientific Library named after I. I. Molchanov-Sibirsky.
The organizer of the Festival is the Irkutsk regional organization of the All-Russian Society of Inventors and Innovators (further: Organization). The event was held in the exhibition format.
Participants at the opening ceremony were welcomed by the head of the Organization, a graduate of INRTU Pavel Derangulin. He noted that the festival was timed to coincide with the Day of the Inventor and Innovator, which is celebrated on the last Saturday of June. More than 40 Irkutsk residents presented developments in the field of energy, aircraft engineering, ecology, agriculture. As a part of the competition program, the jury evaluated projects protected by security documents no earlier than 2017. The expert commission was headed by Alexander Bystritsky, Advisor to the IRNTU Rector.
Anastasia Shatrova and Anna Shkrabo, researchers from the Laboratory for Environmental Monitoring of Natural and Man-made Environments of Irkutsk Polytechnic University, received the award for the third place. The project is led by Professor Andrey Bogdanov. The Polytechnic students presented a technology for freezing colloidal sludge-lignin sediments based on the laying of trenches.
According to Anastasia Shatrova, the project is aimed at solving the environmental problems of Baikalsk. The storage cards of the former pulp and paper mill contain about six million cubic meters of waste. Sludge-lignin, as the main element of waste, is a multicomponent colloidal system containing many toxic substances. Scientists consider freezing in natural conditions to be one of the most promising methods of reducing the volume, humidity and toxicity of colloidal sediments.
The implementation of the idea involves several stages. The first stage is the drainage of accumulators through the drainage of rainwater. Then, at an air temperature of -10℃, it is necessary to clean the surface of the map from snow, dig a trench with an excavator, extract sludge-lignin from it. The sediment stored on board the excavation must be allowed to freeze again.
«Natural freezing improves the physicochemical properties of colloidal sludge-lignin sediments. This is a suitable raw material for obtaining soils and fertilizers. Three years ago, we conducted pilot tests at the Solzanskaya industrial site of the Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill (further BPPM). Strawberries and raspberries were grown in the soil. At the festival of invention, a container with wheat growing in sludge-lignin was demonstrated. In addition, it is proposed to burn the colloidal residue, and use the resulting ash in the production of building materials, sorbents for wastewater treatment," Anastasia said.
For the development and commercialization of the idea, the project authors need about half a billion rubles. Financing is needed for the launch of production lines. Part of the funds will be allocated for the rental of equipment laying trenches. The continuation of the project will be research on the use of BPPM waste (sludge-lignin) in the reclamation of disturbed lands on the territory of the former battery plant in Svirsk. Scientists propose to introduce sludge-lignin sediment into the soil to restore it.
It is also planned to consider the use of sludge-lignin for landscaping urban flower beds. Scientists will carry out this work within the grant program «UMNIK». Recently, intern students Alyona Titova and Nikita Bakhtin were involved in the project, that will have to understand how biodiversity in sludge dumps increases, the composition of sludge-lignin changes due to plants.
It should be noted that three years ago Anastasia Shatrova defended her PhD thesis, now she is studying for a doctorate. She is the winner of the competition of the President of the Russian Federation, the laureate of the regional competition in science and technology. Anastasia considers herself to be an inventor whose life science makes more interesting and diverse.
«Scientific work gives a lot. Firstly, it is an opportunity to create something new, to benefit society. It is also a great reserve for the future, especially if you study at Irkutsk Polytechnic University. Various measures of financial support are available to young people, for example, grants and scholarships. My colleagues and I have participated in many grant programs. We didn’t win the first time, but we confidently went to the goal. Therefore, I wish patience, perseverance and self-confidence to students who are planning to take a step into science," Anastasia Shatrova added.
As the jury member, director of the regional House of Science and Technology Alexey Yashnikov noted, the INRTU project has the great importance for the country. The proposed technology is distinguished by simplicity and efficiency, and this is «invaluable, since it will lead to an improvement in the ecological situation on Lake Baikal.»
In addition, the interest of experts and visitors was aroused by an out-of-competition project involving representatives of INRTU, IrSTU and BSU. The essence of the idea is to create a training and production center for the production of log houses on forestry bases at the Irkutsk Polytechnic University. It is expected that the main building material will be logs processed not manually, but on a special machine. The use of automated equipment will reduce the cost of wooden houses and expand the franchise business.
The innovative device was designed and assembled by Irkutsk resident, BSU student Amin Aminov. Amin is supported by Mansur Hadjiev, who is studying at the Institute of Architecture, Construction and Design, as well as future specialists in the field of forestry Magomed Hadjiev and Askhab Talhibov. The team’s consultant is INRTU Associate professor Igor Pinaykin.
At the festival site, the developers installed a fragment of a log cabin made using the technology of Amin Aminov.
In addition, following the results of the event, the diploma (I degree) was awarded to the employees of the Irkutsk Aircraft Factory. The engineers presented a separate-combined transducer for non-etalon ultrasonic thickness gauges." The break throuh of the Festival was the project of Irkutsk pensioner Vladimir Neverkeev. Welding together fragments of a shovel and a hayfork, he created a manual potato harvester. The device is driven by a metal joint and a special platform for the legs.
Participants of the competition program are recommended to apply for the All-Russian VOIR Award by the end of October. In 2023, the Festival is planned to become interregional.
Photo by the author
and the organaizing committee of the Festival
