ARKHANGELSK, October 9. /TASS/. During the first national Polyus (Pole) Forum in Arkhangelsk, young scientists developed projects for hydrogen safe transportation and storage, as well as drones for the Northern Sea Route (NSR), antioxidants in the Arctic, and others intended for use in high latitudes, a TASS correspondent reported. Specialists from across the country worked in interdisciplinary teams to have wider views on set tasks.
"At first, the young researchers developed ten scientific projects online, and then live, here, at the forum. The projects are completely different in topics, since the researchers represent different directions. The common features are that they are interdisciplinary, and the second is they are focused on the Arctic, that is, they are aimed at addressing problems of our North," Director of the Institute for the Arctic Strategic Development at the Northern Arctic Federal University (NAFU) Alexander Saburov told TASS.
Hydrogen for the Arctic
Anastasia Shesterkina and Azalia Valiullina of the South Urals State University presented a project on using hydrogen as fuel in remote Arctic territories. Right now, diesel fuel is widely used there.
Hydrogen is a promising environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels, but its use is impossible without modern storage methods. Storage and transportation, for example, in cylinders, is neither safe nor efficient. The researchers suggest using liquid organic hydrogen carriers, such as aromatic hydrocarbons. "At low temperatures naphthenic hydrocarbons are liquid and thus are easy to transport to remote Arctic regions. They may be used easily without additional energy supplies, so that not to transfer these hydrocarbons from a solid condition into a liquid condition. We have been using liquid hydrocarbons at low temperatures, and the proportion of hydrogen release from these liquid organic substrates is very high," they said.
Besides, the process is renewable, since hydrogen carriers may be reused. "It is also important to realize that heat is released into the atmosphere in the dehydrogenation process. If, say, this, for example, happens onboard a ship, the heat may be used for heating," the scientists added.
Onion antioxidants and drones for the Northern Sea Route
A team featuring ocean, biology, chemistry, environment and engineering specialists proposed using unmanned aerial vehicles to identify floating marine litter in the Arctic seas, in particular on the Northern Sea Route. The currently used visual surveillance is not too effective. In addition, this method is not helpful during fog, waves at sea and in sunlight. Floating litter the ocean is not visible from satellites.
"Here, UAVs will identify a bigger coverage of this litter, will watch it, will simplify tasks for humans. Artificial intelligence could determine where any litter is. Right now we consider surveillance along the ship's route. The methods may be used in different water areas, not necessarily in the Arctic," Ekaterina Golubeva, a second-year Master of Ecology at the Russian State Hydrometeorological University and an engineer at the PlasticLab laboratory, told TASS.
Another team studies how antioxidants affect oxidative stress in Arctic residents. Oxidative stress happens in adverse factors: cold, difficult conditions of photo periods, unbalanced nutrition. The team suggested extracting antioxidants from onion husks.
"Taking onion husk extract, as it has been seen in mice, improves the body's antioxidant system," Maria Nesterova, a graduate student at the Moscow Polytechnic University, senior laboratory assistant at the Gorbatov Federal Scientific Center for Food Systems, explained to TASS. "At the same time - why is it important and healthy to use husks? Because husk is recyclable, and we can use it as a source of antioxidants."
One of the tasks at the forum was to select methods to extract from onion husks biologically active substances with antioxidant properties.
Oleg Minchuk, the forum's director and executive director of the Nauka (Science) year-round youth educational center, told TASS they planned to accompany the projects after the forum. "The projects that the participants worked on during the forum will continue to be supported. We will keep in touch with interdisciplinary teams' members, we will help in every possible way - in methods, information and organization - so that they, for example, applied for a grant," he said.
About the forum
The forum is organized by the Arkhangelsk Region's Agency for Youth Affairs. It is supported by the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh). The forum's key partner is the Coordinating Council for Youth Affairs in Science and Education at the Russian President's Council for Science and Education.