Scientists from Tomsk Polytechnic University are working on creating new types of nanostructured sorbents that are effective under low temperatures. The project aims to solve the problem of removing toxic heavy metals and microbiological contaminants from the water environments of the Arctic.
According to data obtained during Russian Arctic expeditions, the problem of pollution of Arctic waters and the coastal strip is, among other things, a consequence of global environmental processes. Garbage from the Atlantic Ocean basin gets into the waters of the Barents and Kara Seas through the Atlantic currents.
The most accessible and inexpensive method of deep water purification from a number of chemical pollutants is sorption. Among the advantages are the ability to absorb substances from multicomponent mixtures and a high degree of purification. A large number of various natural and artificial porous materials (zeolites, peat, ash, silica gels, etc.) are currently used as sorbents.
However, today there are no sorbents that can effectively remove a wide range of chemical and microbiological pollutants at low temperatures - in the range from 0 to +10 degrees Celsius. A decrease in ambient temperature worsens the performance properties of sorbents, reducing the sorption capacity to almost zero. In the Arctic, negative temperatures are observed almost all year round, so the development and use of sorbents that can work at low temperatures is a very important task… As far as we know, there are no similar or similar studies at the moment.
—Sergey Zhuravkov, Associate Professor of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Department
TPU has been developing a direction related to the development, creation and study of new types of sorption materials for cleaning aquatic environments from various types of pollutants for about 17 years. The accumulated experience allowed to begin a completely new project to create cryoresistant adsorbents that can effectively remove toxic heavy metals and microbiological contaminants from aqueous media at low temperatures (from 0 °C to +10 °C).
First of all, the scientists plan to select the optimal components for creating cold-resistant materials, work out the modes of their preliminary preparation, modification and obtaining experimental samples of sorbents. They will also create a laboratory stand for the manufacture of samples of nanostructured sorbents, a laboratory installation for the synthesis of nanosized zinc-containing active components of sorption materials using the method of electric spark dispersion.
“We will create methods for the manufacture of nanostructured sorption materials based on mineral and synthetic carriers modified with oxide phases of iron and aluminum, and their zinc-containing active components. The composition was chosen based on many years of experimental experience working with these materials. Thus, the choice was determined, first of all, by the high value of the specific surface and porosity, the necessary chemical composition, the required zeta potential of the surface and the bacteriostatic properties of these substances,” adds Zhuravkov.
According to the researchers, it is known that lowering the temperature weakens chemisorption, a type of adsorption in which a chemical reaction occurs between the surface and the adsorbate, and enhances physical adsorption. At the same time, the dependence of electrokinetic adsorption on temperature has not been clearly established.
In their project, the scientists plan to develop a sorption material that effectively combines all types of adsorption, properties of which will not fundamentally depend on temperature conditions. In addition, special emphasis will be placed on the possibility of multiple regeneration of materials to restore the original sorption capacity.
It is said that the new material will be able to purife water in the Arctic, and target industrial wastewater from oil and gas production enterprises, oil refineries, mechanical engineering enterprises, chemical industry, enrichment plants and any other industrial enterprises with liquid waste, possibly even producing drinking water.
Source: TPU
Also read the publication:
Greenland's Parliament Has Approved a New Government
