SIW4SE Project Researches Solutions for Electrofilter Coal Ash and Textile Industry Waste – Innovations Toward Sustainable Development

The project under the abbreviation of SIW4SE is one of those that are supported by the Science Fund through the “Ideas” program. The main goal is to propose an innovative, two-way solution for the selected waste flows in Serbia, as a resource for the recovery of strategic elements on one hand, and as a means of removing the selected organic and non-organic polluters from waste waters on the other.

Electrofilter coal ash and cellulose-based textile industry waste have been selected for research.

– The increasing amounts of generated waste and its potentially harmful environmental impact require an all-encompassing approach, harmonized with the principles of sustainable development. Of all the energy sources, coal is the most frequently used resource. The importance for Serbia is especially emphasized, because the electrical energy system of our country relies on this energy source to a considerable extent. Consequently, significant quantities of ash, as a byproduct of the combustion process, are disposed of at ash sites, and they contain potential precious resources.

On the other hand, the textile industry in one of the biggest polluters on the planet. One of the approaches through which the emission of polluting matters could be controlled/reduced involves the application of the waste from the textile industry in the system of waste water treatment – the head of the project, professor Aleksandra Peric Grujic of the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, says for eKapija.

Valuable strategic elements from coal ash

Coal ash contains valuable strategic elements and their extraction also has financial and ecological benefits. As our interviewee explains, the critical materials are elements which have a great importance for the economy and they are difficult to replace with some other elements.

– Due to the wide application in advanced technologies, the demand for them grows, and with it their prices as well. The reduced quantities of these valuable elements incite the seeking of new sources, as an alternative to mining, and one such source is the ash produced from the combustion of coal. It is well known that ash contains many metals, such as, for example, aluminum, arsenic, nickel, chrome and others, but the coal ash also contains certain concentrations of elements known as “rare earth elements”, as well as strategic metals such as gallium, germanium, indium, tellurium. The development of a new methodology for the extraction of these elements from the ash would be accompanied by a detailed analysis of the potential environmental impact, so as to ensure an economical and ecologically acceptable solution – she adds.

Following the extraction of the strategic elements, the ash will be applied as an adsorbent (a material to which gas molecules adhere) for non-organic and organic polluters from waste waters.

Solid waste from the textile industry will be applied as an adsorbent in a closed cycle of waste water treatment.

Project results to be of interest for the national and international scientific communities

The team of the SIW4SE Project consists of 12 researchers from the University of Belgrade – Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy (11) and the Institute for Nuclear Sciences Vinca – Institute of National Importance for the Republic of Serbia (1). The project is to take three years, so the research plan is adapted to that time period.

– The activities will be directed at establishing an innovative analytical methodology and the implementation of the most modern statistical multivariate methods. The results achieved by the project would lead to the valorization of the selected types of waste in Serbia, in line with the principles of circular economy and sustainable environment – says Aleksandra Peric Grujic.

She adds that the results of the project would be of interest for the scientific community, both the national and the international one:

– The valorization and reduction of the amount of waste for disposal and storage, as well as the lower costs of the treatment and disposal of waste would have beneficial effects on the industry. In the long term, a sustainable application of the selected flows of industrial waste in Serbia would lead to an improvement of the quality of the environment, and with that the people’s health too.

Purchase of capital equipment

When it comes to the support of the Science Fund, she says that it is of great importance, both for the researchers whose projects have been accepted and for their institutions, because, thanks to the secured funds and equipment, they will be able to realize the research and achieve adequate results.

– It is especially important that the purchase of capital equipment has been approved as well. We all know that, without investing in modern equipment, it is difficult to achieve top-quality results – concludes Aleksandra Peric Grujic.

Aleksandra Kekic

Fond za nauku Republike Srbije

Tehnološko metalurški fakultet Beograd

Institut za nuklearne nauke Vinča Beograd

Science Fund

Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy

Institute for Nuclear Sciences Vinča

Aleksandra Perić Grujić

SIW4SE

Ideas project

waste flows

organic polluters

non organic polluters

waste waters

electrofilter coal ash

textile industry waste

cellulose based waste

ash site

coal ash

strategic elements

aluminum

arsenic

nickel

chrome

rare earth elements

gallium

germanium

indium

tellurium

extraction of strategic elements

adsorbent

gas molecule adhesive material

circular economy

sustainable environment