Responding to Campaign "Make the world cleaner": Some research projects in the field of environment and energy
The campaign "Make the world cleaner" was launched by the United Nations Environment Program on a global scale since 1993. Up to now, the Campaign has become an important annual international environmental event with the participation of more than 180 countries, including Vietnam.
The campaign "Make the world cleaner in 2021" takes place in the context of the complicated development of the global COVID-19 pandemic, which requires humanity to take concrete and practical actions to change behavior with the natural environment and ecosystems. With the theme "Working together to change the world", the "Make the world cleaner" campaign focuses on conveying messages and raising awareness of organizations, businesses, communities and people about the meaning, role and responsibility for environmental protection activities in socio-economic development; at the same time, spread and promote activities and launching campaigns in the new normal, contributing to environmental protection, sustainable development, disaster reduction and adaptation to climate change.
Specifically, practical actions that contribute to environmental protection are increased in the community, such as: Preserving trees, using clean energy, using materials derived from nature, saving electricity, using recycled products, refusing to use single-use plastic products and non-biodegradable plastic bags. The campaign focuses on popularizing effective models and solutions for environmental protection introduced to the people, promoting the application of technology in dealing with environmental problems, and contributing to the formation of the circular economy in the localities.
In the field of environment and energy, the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) has had strengths in research and application. Scientists from the Institute of Environmental Technology built an "advanced biogas application model to generate electricity and use sewage sludge after anaerobic fermentation to produce organic fertilizers" for the purpose of waste sludge treatment to produce biogas for electricity generation, and produce organic fertilizer to serve green agriculture. The model was carried out at a food production company with a 900 m3/day wastewater plant that produces 20 tons of organic sludge per day in Dak Lak province.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Do Van Manh, Deputy Director of the Institute of Environmental Technology, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, with the system of wastewater treatment technology to create biogas for power generation installed at Saigon Beer Joint Stock Company – in Central Vietnam
The project "Technology for producing iron ore concentrates, steel and unburnt building materials from red mud" by the research team from the Institute of Chemistry in collaboration with a steel enterprise, is highly appreciated for its practical applicability in the field of environment, security and defense. The results of the research work on using red mud to produce iron ore and unburnt construction materials opened the prospect for the treatment and full utilization of red mud waste from bauxite mining plants in the Central Highlands, contributing to improving economic value from the process of mining and production, protecting the environment and towards sustainable development.
The project "Research and development of technology for treating industrial and medical hazardous wastes" by scientists from the Institute of Environmental Technology in collaboration with the Vietnam Environment Administration (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment) proposed appropriate waste treatment technologies and put into practical application, achieving high treatment efficiency in more than 50 medical and industrial hazardous solid waste treatment facilities and more than 25 healthcare wastewater treatment facilities across the country. The outstanding advantage of this treatment technology compared to other waste treatment technologies being applied in our country so far is the low investment and treatment costs, simple operation, and high efficiency in environmental treatment.
VAST scientists always strive to successfully research scientific works of high applicability, bringing practical benefits to people and the environment. In fact, the pollutant nature of waste is increasingly complex, and waste treatment standards are becoming more and more stringent, so it requires technology and treatment efficiency to be further improved. Projects under the Central Highlands Program have achieved a number of results that can be applied to the reality of the Central Highlands provinces such as: Solving water problems, responding to climate change; Inter-regional and transboundary forest management; Restoration of ecosystems after mineral extraction; and Providing scientific and technological solutions for sustainable agricultural development.
VAST has researched, evaluated and built a map of the potential of wind and solar energy in the Central Highlands; Identified specific areas capable of commercial exploitation of wind power projects; Selecting technology and rationally exploiting solar and wind energy sources; Proposing technical and technological solutions to overcome the congestion of the transmission grid in the Central Highlands when connecting renewable energy plants with a capacity of more than 200MW.
The Mekong River Delta is also a "field" of research focus of VAST scientists. "Research on solutions exploiting and using rainwater resources of coastal provinces in the Mekong River Delta in the context of climate change" is a topic of great practical application significance of the Ho Chi Minh City Institute of Resources Geography in the field of earth science. The authors of the project built 12 experimental models for 04 different cases, thereby improving somewhat the lives of people in coastal areas in the Mekong River Delta.
The research results, with high scientific content and practical application in the field of environment and energy, of VAST scientists have contributed to solving environmental problems and economic development for businesses, locality and region. It also confirms that science has been "Working together to change the world" and "Make the world cleaner"./.
Translated by Tuyet Nhung
Link to Vietnamese version
