Environmental Research and Development Laboratory (№ 47)

Chief: Pavel Viktorovich Sokolovsky, PHD.

ORCID: 0000-0002-8333-1088

ResearcherID: U-3676-2019

Scopus Author ID: 56358768500

h-index: 5

E-mail:

Phone: +7 (499) 137-40-14; +7-993-627-38-78

Main directions of research

Development of Adsorption-Catalytic Systems for Purifying Atmospheric Air from Greenhouse and Acidic Gases:
✓ Catalysts for purifying waste gases from sulfur and nitrogen oxides;
✓ Catalytic systems for purifying waste gases from volatile organic compounds;
✓ Adsorbent-catalysts for purifying water from dissolved acidic gases;
✓ Adsorbents for greenhouse gas capture.
Utilization of Carbon Dioxide in the Synthesis of Valuable Products:
✓ Catalytic systems for converting carbon dioxide into valuable products (methanol, olefins, liquid fuels, formic, acetic, glyoxalic, and oxalic acids, aldehydes, organic carbonates, etc.);
✓ Electrocarboxylation of unsaturated carbonyl derivatives using CO₂;
✓ Synthesis of polycarbonyl compounds from carbonyl-containing terminal acetylenes using CO₂ in the presence of a catalyst;
✓ Synthesis of nanosized silicon carbide under hydrothermal conditions using CO₂.
Processing of Industrial and Plant Waste into Adsorbents and Combustible Fuel.
Synthesis of Adsorption-Catalytic Systems for Purifying Aquatic Environments from Heavy Metals, Radionuclides, and Organic Compounds.
Extraction of Valuable Products from Wastewater of Metallurgical Enterprises.
Development of Feed Additives Based on Tricarboxylic Acids as an Alternative to Antibiotics.
Development of an Enterosorbent for Treating Gastrointestinal Diseases in Farm Animals.
Development of Wound Dressings for Treating Burn and Purulent Wounds.

Best results

✓ Granulated and block catalysts have been developed and produced for the purification of industrial waste gases from sulfur and nitrogen oxides. Comparative studies of the developed catalysts against imported counterparts have been conducted. The developed granulated catalysts demonstrate high efficiency in cleaning model gas mixtures, achieving up to 97% removal of sulfur oxides (CuZnCa/LSX) and up to 95% removal of nitrogen oxides (CuZnCa/LSX) at temperatures below 350°C. Developed block catalysts based on cordierite with an applied active phase exhibit high efficiency in purifying model gas mixtures from nitrogen oxides, achieving removal rates of up to 91.3%. These block catalysts operate at temperatures above 300°C. The developed catalysts in granulated form can be recommended for the treatment of industrial exhaust gases to remove sulfur and nitrogen oxides at low temperatures and gas flow rates, while block catalysts are suitable for temperatures up to 600°C and a volumetric flow rate of 10 000 h⁻¹.

✓ Scientific and methodological results were obtained on the using of CO₂ in fine organic synthesis under electrolysis conditions. As part of the study, an electrochemical system was developed that enables the activation of the CO₂ molecule under mild conditions. The parameters of electrochemical hydrocarboxylation involving CO₂ were optimized, including current density and electrolyte. The products were identified using NMR and HRMS.

✓ Gasification of lignin-containing raw materials (macadamia shell, canarium, sugar cane bagasse, sunflower seed husk) and subsequent conversion of CO₂ to CO has been carried out. It was found that when gasifying sunflower seed husk and using a catalyst with the addition of 3% Co, the best catalytic activity was observed among the samples studied (CO₂ to CO conversion was 83%). Samples with the addition of nickel and iron showed lower activity of 71% and 39%, respectively.

✓ Iron-containing catalysts based on aluminum oxide have been synthesized for the conversion of CO₂ to CO. The influence of the iron precursor on the activity of the catalysts has been investigated. It has been found that the catalytic efficiency of the catalysts largely depends on the iron precursor used, and its activity decreases in the following order: iron(III) nitrate > iron(II) acetate > iron(III) citrate > ammonium trioxalate ferrate(III). The selectivity for CO increases with rising temperature and reaches 100% at 380°C.

✓ A scaled-up experimental dual-reactor setup (with 10-liter and 5-liter reactors) has been developed for the catalytic pyrolysis of various types of industrial and agricultural waste into adsorbents and combustible fuel. The unit consists of the following components: two 10-liter and 5-liter furnace retorts operating at pressures up to 10 atm, a heavy fraction and soot precipitator, a mist precipitator, a shell-and-tube condenser, a dephlegmator, a catalytic reactor, a pressure-rated liquid fraction receiver, a glass liquid fraction receiver, a steam generator, a water feed pump, a pyrolysis product extraction pump, a gas mass flow controller, a temperature regulator, a control and signaling switchboard, a set of connecting hoses, high-pressure shut-off valves, pressure relief safety valves, and a frame.

✓ A method for synthesizing adsorbents based on sugarcane bagasse has been developed. The method involves carbonization followed by acid-alkali treatment. It has been established that the resulting adsorbent exhibits high adsorption activity towards dissolved H₂S in water.

Furthermore, a chromatographic method for the rapid assessment of the adsorbent's absorption capacity towards acidic gases dissolved in water has also been developed as part of this work.

Selected publications of recent years

A.O. Ustyuzhanin. Electrochemical hydrocarboxylation of enol derivatives with CO2: access to β-acetoxycarboxylic acids. / Bityukov O.V., Sokolovskiy P.V., Merkulova V.M., Ilovaisky A.I., He L.N., Vil’ V.A., Terent’ev A.O. // Chemical Communications – 2024. — V. 60. № 62. — P. 8099 — 8102. DOI: 10.1039/D4CC02831G.

A.A. Medvedev. Carbon dioxide-assisted gasification of fresh and pyrolysis residues of macadamia f.muell nutshells: the catalytic properties of Na, K and Co. / Beldova D.A. , Nizameev I.R., Polikarpova S.B, Mashkin M.Yu. , Bayburskiy V.L., Sokolovskiy P.V., Kustov A.L., Kustov L.M. // Catalysts. – 2025. – Т. 15. — № 1. – С. 62. DOI: 10.3390/catal15010062.

A.A. Medvedev. Сarbon-dioxide-assisted gasification of sunflower husk: an impact of iron, nickel, or cobalt addition. / Beldova D.A., Kustov L.M., Mashkin M.Yu., Polikarpova S.B., Dobrokhotova V.Z., Murashova E.V., Tedeeva M.A., Sokolovskiy P.V., Kustov A.L. // Clean Technol. – 2024. — Vol. 6(4). – P. 1579-1593. DOI: 10.3390/cleantechnol6040076.

A.A. Medvedev. A synergistic effect of potassium and transition metal compounds on the catalytic behaviour of hydrolysis lignin in CO2-assisted gasification. / Kustov A.L., Beldova D.A., Polikarpova S.B., Ponomarev V.E., Murashova E.V., Sokolovskiy P.V., Kustov L.M. // Energies – 2023. – 16(11). – P. 4335. DOI: 10.3390/en16114335.

D.A. Beldova. CO2-assisted sugar cane gasification using transition metal catalysis: an impact of metal loading on the catalytic behavior. / Medvedev A.A., Kustov A.L., Mashkin M.Y., Kirsanov V.Y., Vysotskaya I.V., Sokolovskiy P.V., Kustov L.M. // Materials – 2023. – 16(16). – P. 5662. DOI: 10.3390/en16114335.

N. Evdokimenko. Effect of the nature of iron precursors on the activity of Fe-containing catalysts in CO2 conversion. / Kseniia Vikanova, Andrei Bazlov, Olga Tkachenko, Gennady Kapustin, Konstantin Kalmykov, Marina Tedeeva, Kirill Beresnev, Leonid Kustov, Alexander Kustov. // Applied Catalysis A: General. – Vol. 688. – 2024. – P. 119998. DOI:10.1016/j.apcata.2024.119998.

Tedeeva, M. A. Effect of Chromium Precursor on the Catalytic Behavior of Chromium Oxide Catalysts in Oxidative Propane and Isobutane Dehydrogenation with Carbon Dioxide. Mashkin M.Y. , Baybursky V.L., Pribytkov P.V., Murashova E.V., Kalmykov K.B., Shesterkina A.A., Kapustin G.I., Tkachenko O.P., Dunaev S.F., Kustov L.M., Kustov A.L. // Catalysts. – 2025. – 15(3). – P.226. DOI:10.3390/catal15030226.

K.A.Kirshanov. Modeling the kinetics of polyethylene terephthalate and polyesters with terminal hydroxyl groups transesterification reactions. / Toms R.V., Aliev G.S., Ismaylov D.A., Shagina N.Y., Sokolovskiy P.V., Nizameeva G.R., Gervald A.Y. // Polymers. – 2025. – 17(7). – P.992 — 1012. DOI: 10.3390/polym17070992.

A.A. Andresyuk Influence of carrier textural characteristics on the activity of chromoxide catalysts in the propane dehydrogenation reaction in the presence of Сo. / S.F. Dunaev, G.I. Kapustin, A.L.Kustov, M.Y. Mashkin, A.A.Medvedev, P.V.Pribytkov, O.P.Tkachenko, М. А.Tedeeva. // Russian Journal of Physical Chemistry. – 2025. – 99.7 C. 1016 – 1024. DOI: 10.7868/S3034553725070061.

A.A. Greish. Efficient carbon adsorbent for hydrogen sulfide produced from sugar cane bagasse. Sokolovskiy P.V., Finashina E.D., Kustov L.M., Nguyen Dinh Chien, Nguyen Hoai Chau. // Mendeleev Commun. — 2022. — №32. — p. 828 – 830. DOI: 10.1016/j.mencom.2022.11.040.