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In 2020, in addition to discoveries in the field of combating coronavirus, the number of “green” patents has increased in our country. Together with Rospatent, Trends found out what technologies are waiting for the country in the near future
The patent system makes it possible to trace the main trends in the development of innovations in the field of ecology and sustainable development. Information about innovations is in the public domain and includes a detailed description of products and technologies.
This is because a patent gives its owner the right to decide how an invention can – and can – be used by other people. In exchange for this right, the patentee discloses technical information about the invention in a published patent document.
“In 2020, inventors paid considerable attention to several areas, among other things: recycling of recyclable materials into a material that can be reused, the creation of an environmentally friendly material, obtaining fuel from recycled materials and environmentally friendly raw materials, obtaining energy using alternative sources and technologies for cleaning polluted water surfaces ”, says Tatyana Erivantseva, Deputy Director of the Federal Institute of Industrial Property (FIPS), which is responsible for the protection and use of intellectual property in our country.
1. Prospects for renewable energy
According to the forecasts of the former Minister of Energy Alexander Novak, by 2035 in our country the share of renewable energy sources in the energy consumption market will increase to only 4%. Nevertheless, developments in this direction are constantly being carried out by Russian scientists.
Example: a method for generating mechanical (electrical) energy using a Stirling engine
A special Stirling engine is used to generate electrical energy at thermal power plants, boiler houses, and in transport. It, in turn, uses thermal secondary energy resources, geothermal sources, solar energy – renewable resources that all developed countries are now switching to.
Do not forget about the energy wind zones existing in our country. They are located on the coast of the Arctic Ocean: from the Kola Peninsula to Kamchatka, as well as in the regions of the Lower and Middle Volga and the Don; coasts of the Azov, Barents, Baltic, Caspian, Black and Okhotsk seas.
Given such a wide extent of wind zones on the territory of our country, domestic scientists create installations that use wind energy for environmentally safe energy production, which reduces the amount of harmful emissions into the atmosphere.
Example: wind turbine with two wind turbines
Scientists from the National Research University “MPEI” have increased the efficiency of a wind power plant with a variable wind load using automatic controlled angular displacement of wind wheels relative to each other.
When the air flow speed drops below the nominal value, the sensor transmits information to the control unit, which sends a signal to change the angle between the wind wheels.
2. Recycling
Recycling is one of the urgent problems in the field of ecology. According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Greenpeace, less than 5% of garbage is recycled in our country – everything else is burned and remains in landfills.
One such example is a unique composition of the concentrate developed by SIBUR Holding, which allows, after processing recyclable materials (for example, plastic bottles), to obtain a new polymer with the qualitative properties of the primary one. This effect is achieved due to the fact that the concentrate increases the viscosity of the resulting material.
Another similar development is a technology based on the processing of grains (waste from the remains of the grain shell in the form of thick) in breweries. The residual thick itself contains many valuable food components. It would be irrational to simply dispose of it or burn it.
That is why a domestic company specializing in the recycling of this type of waste, BioVi LLC, has developed an original technology to obtain a product with a high protein content that can be used in sports and diet nutrition.
3. Obtaining fuel from secondary and ecological raw materials
Clean fuels are one of the priorities for development in countries with sustainable development economies. Reduced CO emissions2 into the atmosphere to zero is the main goal of the European Union for the coming decades.
In our country, developments are also underway in the field of creating “green” fuel. An example is innovation in the production of biofuels – processed vegetable and animal raw materials, waste products of organisms, as well as some industrial organic waste (firewood, wood chips and oil residues).
Our country is one of the three countries exporting solid biofuels (after Canada and the USA) in the European market. Other types of biofuels and their technological components are also successfully developed in our country.
Example 1: method for oxidative torrefaction of biowaste in a fluidized bed
Employees of the Tambov State Technical University and Joint Stock Company “Prodmash” have created a technology for the production of biofuel from biowaste.
From waste processed by thermal decomposition of biomass in a specially designed plant, high quality fuel is obtained. Moreover, as biowaste can be used:
- crop waste (straw);
- processing industry waste (husks of sunflower, millet, buckwheat, rice and other crops);
- waste from the forestry and woodworking industries;
- some types of municipal and household waste.
Due to the special conditions of biomass processing, it is possible to increase the energy efficiency and reliability of the processing process.
Example 2 Process for Refining Oil Residue
Scientists of the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute for Oil Refining have developed a technology for processing up to 95% of the mass of fuel oil into marine fuel, which will comply with the requirements of GOST.
The developers actually learned how to get fuel from oil production waste using several stages of hydro-upgrading using various catalysts. In addition to processing oil waste, this technology allows ships to be refueled without wasting resources.
Example 3: catalyst, method of its preparation and method of one-stage processing of renewable vegetable raw materials to obtain environmentally friendly components of motor fuels
This technology makes it possible to obtain environmentally friendly components of motor fuels with significant savings in resources from renewable plant materials. This effect is achieved through a one-stage production process, which reduces not only production costs, but also waste.
The fuel itself is produced from animal fats and vegetable oils (rapeseed, soybean, palm, corn, ricin, hemp, sunflower, cotton) using hydroprocessing technology in the presence of a developed catalyst.
4. Development of environmental monitoring
It is also extremely important to assess the level of environmental pollution using various markers (ecomonitoring). Developments in this area are a steady trend in the work of domestic inventors.
Example 1: environmental monitoring and display of air pollution
The device belongs to ecological systems for collecting and displaying information about the state of atmospheric air in an industrial region and is intended for use in an atmosphere protection system for prompt identification of pollution sources.
Example 2: calculating the carbon footprint of road transport
The program provides the following functions:
- calculation of the carbon footprint when using motor vehicles in enterprises, organizations and for personal purposes;
- analysis of the data obtained;
- assessment of the company’s carbon footprint in order to reduce emissions.
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