Smoke and steam rise from the Belchatow Power Station, Europe’s largest coal-fired power plant in Poland. Photo: Reuters. The use of fossil fuels continues in the face of rising global energy demand, continued consumption and investment in new fossil fuel plants, and energy use, the report said. lower biomass such as using wood or agricultural waste in heating and cooking. Burning fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil produces carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. As concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere rise to record levels, governments have called for stronger emissions cuts and curbs on fossil fuel use to meet global climate goals. The exhaust pipe of a car is photographed on the street in Berlin, Germany. Photo: Reuters. The share of fossil fuels in the global energy mix was 80.2% in 2019, compared with 80.3% in 2009, while renewables such as wind and solar accounted for 11, REN21 said. 2% in the energy structure in 2019 and 8.7% in 2009. The remainder of the energy mix consists of traditional biomass, which is used largely for cooking or heating in homes in the developing world. However, in many regions, including parts of China, the European Union, India, and the United States, it is now cheaper to build new wind or solar photovoltaic plants than to operate new ones. existing coal plant. Renewable energy is also competing with new natural gas-fired power plants in terms of cost in many locations and is the cheapest source of new electricity generation in countries on all continents, the report said. big land. “We are waking up to the bitter reality that the climate policy promises of the past ten years have been almost empty words,” said Rana Adib, CEO of REN21. “The share of fossil fuels in final energy consumption has not shifted an inch,” she added. In many countries, the Covid-19 economic recovery packages aim to stimulate further investment in renewable energy. But renewable investments only account for about one-sixth of investment in fossil fuels, the report added.

MSc Do Nguyen Hoang Nga (third from left) and the research team on new environmentally friendly materials products. Photo: NVCC

She once defended her Master’s thesis in English with a score of 9.9 and was honored to be one of 31 students and researchers who received a “huge” scholarship awarded by the National University of Ho Chi Minh City.

Passionate about renewable materials

Do Nguyen Hoang Nga graduated from university with an engineering degree in Chemical Engineering at University of Technology – National University of Ho Chi Minh City in 2018 and continued to study for a master’s degree at the school. In 2020, she graduated with a Master’s degree with an average score of 9.63, a thesis in English with a score of 9.9. Hoang Nga is continuing her research work with the Sustainable Process Engineering team led by Assoc.Prof.Dr. Le Thi Kim Phung.

The team’s research direction is to develop technologies to convert agricultural-industrial by-products into renewable materials with high technical value such as aerogels, multi-disciplinary applications such as construction, environmental treatment, food packaging. and aimed at applications in medicine, fuel cells …

MSc Do Nguyen Hoang Nga said that the group is currently focusing on renewable materials from biomass. This field is quite new and is the trend of the current world when the environment is increasingly polluted. Her approach towards zero waste technology, turning worthless things into valuable products has fascinated her for the past two years.

“In 2019, I have access to aerogel synthesis technology from pineapple leaves through the cooperation between the Sustainable Process Engineering team and the Aerogel research team of Assoc.Prof.Dr. Duong Minh Hai – National University of Singapore. After that, my team and I continue to expand this research direction with other types of waste such as fly ash, waste cotton chips, pandan leaf fibers … Up to now, these studies have had positive results at room scale. experiment and pilot, as a basis to be transferred into industrial production when an organization is interested in placing an order “, shared Hoang Nga.

During the implementation of the studies, Hoang Nga and the group encountered many difficulties in funding and analysis equipment. Some of the equipment at the laboratory is not available, so the group has to link with domestic and foreign laboratories to send measurement samples. Passive analysis can sometimes make progress difficult. However, some research topics of the group are supported by funding from scientific funding funds, thus partly removing the group’s obstacles.

MSc Do Nguyen Hoang Nga has the honor to receive a graduate scholarship from the National University of Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: NVCC

Hope to be available on the market soon

With the current research direction on renewable materials from biomass, Hoang Nga and his team wish to create more conditions for research and development of modern and efficient technologies in industrial production.

As an application-oriented research group, the group always puts the feasibility criteria when producing on an industrial scale on top. The direction of non-waste recycling from biomass is approaching in line with the trend of Vietnam as well as in the world when the problem of environmental pollution caused by waste is concerned by many people. After all, the team still wants to apply the developed technology on an industrial scale to the industrial scale of this material to be available on the market early.

Assoc. her research as a research engineer. Within two years, Russia and the research team had outstanding achievements in scientific publication with 11 international articles on the SCIE list, 1 article on Scopus, 2 domestic articles and 2 reports in the yearbook. prestigious international seminar with research orientation to develop technology to manufacture aerogel materials, ultra-light solid materials containing more than 90% air, from wastes such as pineapple leaves, coir, bagasse cotton, waste tires… ”.

“Russia has the quality of a researcher who is serious, honest, creative and passionate about science, always shows a high sense of responsibility, critical thinking, sociable, energetic and cheerful. with people. According to the students in my lab, Russia does not hesitate to help them when there are problems or problems. All my students want to work with Russia for their devotion and valuable advice to them ”, said Associate Professor, Dr. Kim Phung.

To keep the fire passionate about science, especially with female scientists, it is necessary to encourage and care from family, friends and colleagues because it is the spiritual strength that helps us to persevere. intensify forward. Besides, thanks to scientific research funding from the university budget, the National University of Ho Chi Minh City, the Department of Science and Technology of Ho Chi Minh City, the Vingroup Innovation Fund, the domestic research groups … confidence and research effort. – Master Hoang Nga