TOP environmental solutions of the year of the war: what Ukrainians created to preserve the environment

The war destroys the environment and strongly affects other spheres of life of Ukrainians, including science. The money that should have been spent on developing technology is spent defending against the aggressor. However, Ukrainians do not stop and find new solutions.

Coffee cups are enemies of a clean environment because even if they look like paper cups, they still contain plastic and cannot be recycled. The Ukrainian brand Rekava created disposable coffee cups made of mainly coffee grounds or secondary raw materials from corn, eggshell, and other natural components. Depending on the weather, such glasses decompose in one and a half to three months. They can also be disposed of as fodder for domestic animals, fertilizers, or pellets for heating.

Rekava disposable, biodegradable cups are an innovative product with no analogs worldwide. They are suitable for hot and cold drinks, made without plastic, and biodegradable without creating specific requirements. And they are also easily compostable at home and in industrial conditions, say startup developers Yurii Tustanovskyi and Dmytro Bidyuk, who have been working on the project for the past three years.

Rekava also makes pots for seedlings, which can be planted in the soil with plants.

The center of "Energy-efficient technologies" of the Ternopil National Pedagogical University named after Hnatyuk, has created a generator that can be used in industry but runs on biofuel: residues left by farmers and ending up in landfills can replace natural gas.

Using biofuel, such generators can provide the drying of grain and concrete, the firing of bricks, and the heating of greenhouses. And natural gas can be directed to other needs of the country.

The equipment of generator-utilizers is fully automated. In addition, the only thing that has to be purchased in Europe is microprocessors. Currently, they provide enterprises only with thermal energy, but the process of manufacturing steam turbines, which will allow the silent conversion of thermal energy into electrical energy, is underway.

2,000, 3,000, and 6,000 kW utilization generators are already available. One will cost from $81 thousand to $109 thousand. The payback period is three months.

An ingeniously simple device based on piezo elements was created by a schoolboy from Zhytomyr  — plates that, when pressed, deformed, or tapped, can generate an electric current.

The young inventor and his scientific supervisor connected the plates and tested the device on a small waterfall of the Zhytomyr dam. When the stream of water fell from a height of one and a half meters, the installation showed that an electric current was being produced. This was demonstrated by a LED that was glowing. The potential energy of water was transformed into electric power. Based on the conducted research, it was found that this method of obtaining energy is effective, inexpensive, and environmentally safe.

The author of the invention, Ilya Sydorchuk, a schoolboy from Zhytomyr, already took second place with this project in the All-Ukrainian Eco-Techno Ukraine competition and received the right to represent Ukraine at an international competition in the USA.

Yevhen Drimko from Dnipro worked on the invention for almost 10 years and spent $270 on the entire project. His invention, a gravity engine, was patented in the summer of 2022.

The experimental sample consists of a frame, loads, a chain, a battery, and a generator that works not on gasoline, gas, or coal but thanks to gravitational energy. Thus, the load, slowly descending, transforms gravitational energy into mechanical energy. And the mechanical one — in the electric one.

The invention will help produce electricity for household needs — heating food and water in a boiler and providing lighting and even heating.

The Ukrainian team of entrepreneurs developed the FuelWell device — a technology for reducing harmful emissions from internal combustion engines. This is a device that, as a result of the catalytic process, breaks the carbon bonds in the fuel — in simple words, the fuel burns in a larger volume. Such a device can be installed on all models of cars driving on the roads of Ukraine and Europe.

During the operation of the device, guaranteed by the manufacturer, the owner will be able to reduce emissions at the level of:

• CO2 — 1215 kg
• CO — 9 kg
• NOx — 18-kg
• Soot — 6 kg

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Mariia Hodovanets, a Kyiv Academy of Arts and Sciences student and an 11th-grader, created an alternative to synthetic polymers and invented an ecological packaging material made from agricultural waste: straw, husks, etc. The material can be used for storing and transporting various food products and disposable tableware, which will not harm the environment because it decomposes safely.

In 2022, the inventor won a gold award at the International Innovation Show "INOVA."

The problem with hydrogen energy is that the devices used to obtain hydrogen do not meet the requirements of safety and economy.

The Kyiv Polytechnic team proposed its solution to this problem — a complex technology of hydrogen production by electrolysis using ultrasonic modules.

The hydrogen production technology proposed by the team will allow:

• increase productivity and energy efficiency;
• simplify the design of the device and reduce the cost of the final product — hydrogen;
• ensure maximum safety for personnel and the environment;
• there are currently no analogs of the device in this design;
• The proposed technology is competitive. Compared to the main rivals on the market (OGO HHO and Hydroxy Power company), the technology developed by the team has several significant advantages, in particular, environmental friendliness, high energy efficiency, simplicity, and manufacturability. The expected market value of a typical installation is $40,000.

For these solutions to really change the world and make Ukraine friendly to its environment, they need to be popularized and used. So share information about inventions that interest you with those around you, follow what Ukrainian scientists are doing, and introduce new eco-habits into your life.

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