A delegation fr om Tomsk State University participated in the meeting of the BRICS Working Group on Environment held in Nizhny Novgorod (Russia). There TSU researchers presented their developments for cleaning water bodies from oil, petroleum products, and plastic waste. These technologies have already proven effective in Russia and they are unique in the world; thus they can be implemented in other countries involved in oil production and transportation.
Danil Vorobyov, Director of the TSU Biological Institute, was the first speaker at the event. Ministers of the BRICS countries and other participants learned about the Aeroschup technology developed for cleaning bottom sediments from oil. This approach does not require excavation or the use of chemicals for carbon neutralization.
“The BRICS countries are a potential market for us, as Brazil, UAE, India, Iran, and others are involved in hydrocarbon production and transportation. It always leads to emergencies, and there is no country that has managed to avoid them yet,” explained Danil Vorobyev. “The participants of the meeting learned about the Aeroschup technology, which can reduce the concentration of oil in the bottom sediments of water bodies by ten times and restore their ecosystem. TSU's participation in the working group meeting allowed us to directly communicate with the relevant ministries responsible for environmental protection.”
The TSU technology can be used to purify rivers, lakes, streams, and seabeds at depths of up to 20 meters. This is most in-demand in ports, wh ere oil spills occur during delivery. The results of TSU research projects on microplastics in water, river bottom sediments, and living systems were also presented at the meeting.
“Macro- and microplastic pollution is a global challenge,” said Yulia Frank, director of the TSU Microplastics in the Environment Research Center. “Cooperation with partners from other countries enables us to obtain more data on the distribution of plastics pollution in different ecosystems, its regional peculiarities, and its impact on living organisms. That is why TSU initiated the establishment of an international consortium several years ago. We invited our colleagues from BRICS countries to participate in it, which would allow us not only to exchange information, but also to conduct joint research.”