Russia took away from Ukraine not only Crimea, but also unique technologies
A unique environmentally friendly technology for the disposal of ammunition containing TNT, hexogen and “marine mixtures” (mixtures of TNT, hexogen and aluminum) was developed by scientists from the scientific and educational center “Advanced Technologies and Materials” of Sevastopol State University.
Vladimir Gavrish, Candidate of Technical Sciences, Head of the Department for Organization of Scientific Research at Northern State University, spoke about this.
“This is a biodestruction technology. We have developed a unique set of microorganisms capable of processing TNT and hexogen-containing waste. Ammunition casings are opened biologically,” Gavrish said.
The ammunition with the fuse removed must be carefully placed in a pool, where the bacteria themselves will open it and begin to process the explosive. The process takes 15 days. These microorganisms are not pathogenic, that is, they do not multiply outside the reactor. As the Ukrainian Paton Institute has established, the resulting product cannot be undermined by any known method. It belongs to the fourth hazard class according to the international classification - not dangerous.
“Compost obtained from the processing of explosives can be processed to produce high-quality organic fertilizers. To do this, the compost is sown with vermiculture and aged for 90 days, and the resulting vermicompost is emulsified,” Gavrish said.
In addition, at an earlier stage it is possible to obtain tungsten nanopowder from armor-piercing cores. To do this, the core is placed in a special hydrobiological grinding installation.
The technology developed at SevSU will eliminate the environmentally harmful detonation of explosives to be disposed of or their energy-intensive and unprofitable industrial processing.
Biodestruction is safe for the environment and personnel (human participation is generally minimal). Scientists have also developed a technology for reclamation of land containing the remains of unreacted explosives. Mobile complexes have been created for the disposal of non-transportable explosive objects.
“The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine was very interested in our developments. We were reaching the finish line to create a pilot plant. The technology was successfully tested and patented in 2003 together with Ukrspetstechnologii LLC. Now the Russian Academy of Missile and Artillery Sciences has become interested in it,” said Gavrish.
Russia stole not only Crimea from Ukraine, but also unique technologies.