Perm Polytechnic University has created a sorbent for cleaning oil-contaminated soils from paper production waste

10/11/2021
The Faculty of Chemical Technologies, Industrial Ecology and Biotechnologies of Perm Polytechnic University has developed a biosorbent that allows to effectively clean the soil contaminated with oil and petroleum products using pulp and paper production waste. The study corresponds to the direction "Ecology and safety of territories" of the Perm REC "Rational subsoil Use".

The biosorbent is created on the basis of osprey - cellulose fiber with impurities, which is collected in large quantities from the waste water of the paper machine. Currently, osprey is mostly accumulated, and little is used for further processing.


- The creation of biosorbents for the effective "destruction" of oil pollution based on production waste is especially relevant now. We have received prototypes of a new petrobiosorbent. The product is easy to use, non-toxic to humans and the environment, - says the author of the project, a student of the Faculty of Chemical Technologies, Industrial Ecology and Biotechnology of Perm Polytechnic Daria Efremova.

–We used osprey fiber, which is formed at pulp and paper enterprises. At the moment, these wastes are accumulating and occupy large territories, – says the author of the project, a student of the Faculty of Chemical Technologies, Industrial Ecology and Biotechnology of Perm Polytechnic Daria Efremova.

Its head, Associate Professor of the Department of Environmental Protection, researcher at the Laboratory of Rational Nature Management and Nature-like Technologies, Candidate of Technical Sciences Ekaterina Belik explained that now researchers are studying how microbiocenosis is formed on the surface of the carrier, which is waste production. If it is selected correctly, it stimulates microbial metabolism. The carrier performs a protective function for living cells from adverse environmental conditions and helps to preserve the biochemical activity of microorganisms.

According to the researchers, various biosorbents based on natural (peat, perlite, expanded clay) and artificial materials (polypropylene, Teflon) are now used. Of great interest is the use of waste products and oil-oxidizing microorganisms as "destroyers" of oil. The development of scientists from Perm Polytechnic University will allow solving two tasks at once: to purify water and soil from hydrocarbons and to reduce the volume of accumulated waste from pulp and paper enterprises.