Two new labs to be opened by young scientists

The Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russia has published its decisions considering the funding of young scientists’ labs in 2021.

Kazan University is going to receive 108 million rubles, and two labs will be opened – Laboratory of Hydrate Technology of Utilization and Storage of Greenhouse Gases and Laboratory of Intelligent Chemical Robotics.

“Several such laboratories will be created in the Republic of Tatarstan. We want to develop a set of algorithms based on artificial intelligence which will allow predicting the methods of obtaining chemical compounds with given properties. These algorithms are designed to replace humans as much as possible. Ultimately, we want to create a sort of a robot to synthesize compounds with desired properties or optimize the synthesis, that is, look for ways to improve the yield, quality and purity of the resulting product,” explains Timur Madzhidov, head of planned chemical robotics lab. “This is a serious challenge. You need to have good hardware and software. As part of this project, we are concentrating on creating the software needed to control a chemical robot, and we also plan to create a prototype in order to test these software tools.”

As for the hydrate technology project, its supervisor Mikhail Varfolomeev explains, “The development of new and effective methods for the utilization, storage and transportation of natural gas and associated petroleum gas using hydrate technologies will increase the efficiency of hydrocarbon production, especially in those fields where the use of pipeline transport and the use of natural gas liquefaction technology is impossible or very costly. In addition, hydrates of hydrocarbon gases can be considered as a source and method of energy storage for remote and sparsely populated areas. An equally important area of laboratory research will be the use of hydrate technologies for the utilization of carbon dioxide, which may become one of the ways to move to clean energy by reducing the carbon footprint.”

Each lab is going to receive 18 million rubles a year in 2021-2023.

 

Source text: Rufina Gimaletdinova

Photo: Maxim Zaretsky

Translation: Yury Nurmeev