Ilya Cherenkov, Assistant Professor of the Department of Environmental Engineering at Novosibirsk State Technical University (NETI) together with colleagues from the Institute of Catalysis named after G. K. Boreskov SB RAS has developed an ecological method for the production of formic acid (HCOOH) from the husk of oats and the perennial herbaceous plant miscanthus. The product from renewable raw materials can be used in hydrogen energy, medicine and the agricultural industry.
Today, one of the most relevant areas in the energy sector is hydrogen energy. Special attention is paid to safe methods of storage and transportation of hydrogen carriers, including in the form of chemical compounds. A promising "donor" of hydrogen is formic acid, which is obtained from vegetable raw materials.
"Formic acid is a good enough alternative energy source. It is a liquid that is stable and safe at room temperature. In comparison with hydrogen gas, it is convenient to transport it," Ilya Cherenkov said.
The use of formic acid today is extensive and is not limited only to new branches of energy. For example, it is used in beekeeping to control parasites, and in agriculture as a preservative and antibacterial agent for foraging.
At the first stage, oat husks and miscanthus, as a source of cellulose and polymers, are subjected to grinding and mechanical destruction of their structure. Then the processed raw materials are hydrolyzed-oxidized into formic acid. Studies on the selection of conditions for the mechanical activation of plant biomass were conducted in the laboratory of the Department of Environmental Engineering of NSTU-NETI. The hydrolysis-oxidation reaction is being investigated with the participation of Ilya Cherenkov at the SB RAS Institute of Catalysis named after G.K. Boreskov.
"We chose miscanthus grass and oat husks as a source of organic acid for several reasons. Miscanthus is unpretentious to growing conditions, frost-resistant and can grow in Siberia. Secondly, oat husk is a large—tonnage waste from agriculture, which is simply stored and rotting. The Altai Territory, the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Novosibirsk Region are the leaders in oat harvesting in Russia. And a third of the total mass of oats is husk, and it contains about 42-43% cellulose. This is a fairly good indicator for a source of organic acid," Ilya Cherenkov said.
Today, similar scientific work on the search for renewable organic sources of formic acid is underway in Germany and China, but the study of its production from oat husks and miscanthus grass for large-scale production was carried out for the first time by a young scientist of NSTU-NETI.
Ilya Cherenkov plans to finalize together with his colleagues all the stages of obtaining formic acid, purify the product from by-products and create an experimental pilot plant for producing an organic hydrogen source.
The scientific supervisor of the young scientist is Nikolai Gromov, a Candidate of Chemical Sciences, head of the Department of Environmental Engineering at NSTU-NETI and a leading researcher at the SB RAS Institute of Catalysis named after G.K. Boreskov.
"Modern advanced science is impossible without close cooperation between higher education, universities, and leading research institutes, without actively involving students and postgraduates in solving fundamental and applied problems facing the country; we are glad that such an active partnership is developing between NSTU-NETI and such a leading research institute as the SB RAS Institute of Catalysis "- commented Nikolai Gromov.