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Uczelnia Badawcza Inicjatywa Doskonałości
Uczelnia Badawcza Inicjatywa Doskonałości

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Wizytówki projektów Young-Labs

Wizytówki projektów Young-Labs

Program Laboratoria Młodych (Young Labs) - wsparcie młodych naukowców UJ w zakresie tworzenia zespołów badawczych i realizacji interdyscyplinarnych projektów badawczych oraz rozwoju kompetencji.

Materiały promocyjne zostały sfinansowane ze środków Priorytetowego Obszaru Badawczego Antropocen w ramach Programu Strategicznego Inicjatywa Doskonałości w Uniwersytecie Jagiellońskim

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#Decarbonization #Poland #Energy sector #Energy security

The project aims to present the issue of decarbonization of the Polish energy sector (in legal, technological and political context). Currently, the Polish energy sector is facing a difficult challenge - dynamic redevelopment towards cleaner and safer energy. Eliminating the coal or reducing its consumption is highly desirable. However, from the economic and social point of view, it might pose a threat to the energy stability. For this reason this project is directly connected with the PRA – Anthropocene research issues (integrity in the energy politics). Moreover is compliant with ASAP (Adaptation-Sustainability-Advancement-Protection) - it raises the issue of reasonable and sustainable use of the energy and sources, the climate change and ways of adapting to the changing environment. It involves three fields of social sciences: security, politics and administration, law along with engineering and technical sciences. Additionally, the project also matches the aims of EI.JU program: professional development of the employee and the University’s impact on the development of international sciences since the results of the project are going to be published in prestigious journals. The results of the project will inspire further research on Polish decarbonization and might also strengthen cooperation with well-recognized institutions and research centers.

 

#Lignin #elimination of organic pollutants #carbon adsorbents #TiO2 #photocatalytic oxidation

The development of civilization related to advanced industrialization and urbanization entails a number of negative effects, including environment degradation. Deteriorating quality and purity of surface waters as a result of the presence of organic pollutants has become seriously noticeable, especially in developed countries. However, despite considerable efforts, water reservoirs are still not free of undesirable organic compounds. Their main sources are industrial and municipal sewage as well as agricultural production.

The idea developed in the project is related to the development of hybrid materials containing a carbon core of natural origin modified with TiO2 particles, which would simultaneously play a role of an adsorbent and a photocatalyst in the low-energy process of removing organic pollutants from aqueous solutions. Lignin is used as a precursor of the carbon adsorbent. It is an amorphous aromatic biopolymer containing phenylpropyl groups forming a cross-linked spatial structure with cellulose, the utilization of which is a great challenge for scientists.

Implementation of the project requires an interdisciplinary approach, built by elements related to waste management, environmental chemistry, catalysis, materials engineering and environmental engineering. The research team established at the Jagiellonian University in cooperation with the University of Wuppertal is doing research on the development of composite systems with high efficiency in the removal of phenolic compounds by adsorption assisted by photocatalytic oxidation. The experience gained will become the basis for the preparation of scientific publications, as well as efforts to obtain funding for in-depth research under the programs offered by the National Science Centre.

The aim of the project is to build a portable device allowing remote detection and identification of hazardous substances such as unexploded shells, mines, war gases, etc. in an aquatic environment. The principle of its operation is based on the neutron activation of the substance and measuring the characteristic gamma quanta spectra formed after the irradiation with neutron beams. In contrast to the commonly used methods, we propose a solution that allows determining the chemical composition of the suspicious object remotely, without endangering human health and life. Emitted by the source or generator neutrons are absorbed or scattered inelastically on the atomic nuclei of the test object which causes excitation of nuclei to higher energy states. Those nuclei de-excite to the ground state and emit gamma quanta, which energy depends on the type of nucleus. These gamma quanta can be recorded e.g. using semiconductor detectors. Taking into account the probability of interaction of neutrons with various nuclei and the performance of the detector to register gamma quanta of a given energy one can determine the number of atoms of all the elements building the test object (its stoichiometry). The development of this technology will increase the safety of sailors, civilians, and public services, in particular in the Baltic Sea, where the sunken combat shells and mines from the Second World War represent a serious threat to the navy. Moreover, the toxic substances contained in some of the bombs, for example, war gases, are very serious environmental problems. So far, no devices have been developed for the effective application of the activation methods in the aquatic environment due to the strong absorption of neutrons in water. Thus, the planned device is worldwide innovative and its construction is based on the solution which is a subject of a patent which the manager of the proposed project is a major author. The proposed project is a continuation of research conducted within an NCBR LIDER project entitled "Construction of a prototype of a mobile device for non-invasive detection of hazardous substances in the aquatic environment" within which we showed the feasibility of the proposed method of pollutions detection using Monte Carlo simulations and in the first test of the sensor in a laboratory environment.

The overall aim of the project is to contribute to both understanding and finding adequate solutions to the tensions over the shape of the forest economy in Poland, in particular in the Carpathian region. Thanks to a combination of insights from and methods of economics, sociology, forestry and biology, the expected research findings shall reach, however, beyond this single case, and apply to other ecological challenges of our time. The inter-disciplinary Lab, working in close cooperation with socioeconomic actors and research groups from the Universities of Lausanne and Helsinki, shall adopt approaches from contemporary political economy and ecological economics, to analyse the relations of power, inequalities, and major economic interests as the drivers of unsustainable dynamics in the socio-economic systems. The relevance of the topic can be attributed to the crucial role of forests in maintaining the stability of the biosphere and its cycles, in particular during the Climate Crisis. However, forests serve vital economic functions as well, mainly as reservoirs of timber, a key resource for many industrial value chains. Notably, increasing tension between these two dimensions can be observed in Poland, as identified by the multiple conflicts between public institutions, industries, local communities, scientists and the ecological movement. In particular, the intensified logging in `high nature value' forests in mountains is a subject of growing controversy. The research topic is not only highly relevant but also non-trivial, with multiple open questions. This could be attributed to the complex interactions between multiple values, interests, and processes. However, its discussion in economics, arguably crucial for proper understanding of the problem, has been scarce. The Lab is designed to fill a gap in science and the public debate, by seeing the problem through the lens of concepts and methods of political economy, in particular, the global value chains and systems of provisions approach. It means that it shall perceive the forestry as embedded into a broader socioeconomic system, organized in domestic and international value chains. It plans to focus empirically on two aspects of the described phenomenon. First, the lab will map the production system organized around the timber resource, with its major actors and institutions, economic relations between them, and major financial and material flows. This should help identify the driving forces that stand behind the increased wood-extraction and the distribution of attached costs and benefits. Second, the lab will approach the problem of class relations, which arguably lie at the heart of intensified logging and the troublesome struggles for ecological preservation of forests. Here, close cooperation with grassroots organizations is projected, which may lead to innovative solutions to the socioecological problems and conflicts.