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Scientific activities of Department in the 21th century

Since 2000, under the leadership of Professor L. L. Tovazhnyansky, the department has been developing a direction of scientific research related to the improvement of the diffusion carbide surface alloying technology (DCPL). DCPL technology was developed on the basis of a discovery registered under No. 368, one of the authors of which was the leading researcher, Candidate of Technical Sciences Inna Isakivna Zaets, who worked at the department until 2008.

In the future, the development of DCPL technology was continued by senior researcher, Candidate of Technical Sciences L. O. Chunyaeva, researcher, Candidate of Technical Sciences O. M. Chunyaev, junior researchers A. O. Bykov and A. O. Asriyan. DCPL technology is intended to replace bulk alloyed (rust-resistant) steels operating in aggressive environments of the chemical and mining industries with surface alloyed ones. Carbide coatings applied using the DCPL technology are effective on carbon steels, structural low-alloy steels, high-strength low- and medium-alloy steels, practically on all types of tool steels, as well as on gray, malleable and high-strength cast iron. Using the DCPL technology, it is possible to produce basic components for all branches of mechanical engineering: bearings, gears, plunger pairs, brake discs, cutting, stamping and chopping tools, shut-off valves, nozzles, injectors, working bodies and branch pipes of pumps for aggressive environments, parts for operation in aggressive environments (metal products, fittings, nozzles), semi-finished products (sheet steel, pipes), etc. Theoretical research in this scientific direction is related to the development of physicochemical methods for regulating the process of carbide phase formation, as well as the development of surface-alloyed alloys with a given gradient of properties. The DCPL technology is protected by 24 patents of the USA, Japan, Germany, Canada, Sweden, and France.

In 2002, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Ved Valery Yevgenovych was appointed Acting Head of the Department of ZHT, PA. At the beginning of the first decade of the 21st century, work began under his leadership to create ceramic heaters of a fundamentally new type. The use of the developed contact heaters made it possible to transfer heat to objects as they heat up, due to thermal conductivity, that is, with minimal thermal resistance in the system that transfers heat. It also became possible to transfer heat by a directed and evenly distributed heat flow with the maximum developed surface of a given complex configuration that transfers heat. This made it possible to create for the first time an electric plate heat exchanger – a heater with almost 100% heat transfer to the medium being heated (L. L. Tovazhnyansky, V. E. Ved, L. M. Ulyev). Such a heater is recommended for pumping high-viscosity oil in plumes and has already been used at paint and varnish industry enterprises (for example, OJSC “Chervonyi Khimik” – the total capacity of seven chemical reactor heaters is 230 kW), as well as for heating and hot water supply of domestic and industrial premises (OJSC “Air Conditioner” plant, 30 kW).

The use of new-type ceramic heaters and the organization of directional heat transfer techniques, for example, in chemical reactors, drying equipment, household appliances, etc. allows achieving 20-40% electricity savings. Infrared heaters have also been developed that directionally generate approximately 90% of the heat flux and allow the energy efficiency of their use to be estimated at a level above 70%.

Since the beginning of the 2000s, the department has been carrying out work, headed by Professor L. L. Tovazhnyansky, on the creation of new types of converters of harmful gas emissions from industrial enterprises and vehicles (Professor V. E. Ved with his colleagues). The work is based on experimental and theoretical studies that allow creating models and algorithms for numerically solving problems of the kinetics of the processes of conversion and mixing of gases, which describe the process of heat release in flow-type reactors. This makes it possible to predict the temperature, pressure and impurity concentration fields in the devices and to develop new designs of catalytic neutralizers, which are used, in particular, on mobile waste incineration complexes PSU-150 and PSU-350, as well as on a mobile installation for neutralizing pesticides.

The ITPA Department, together with the Center for Energy-Saving Integrated Technologies and JSC “Spivdruzhnist-T”, implement their scientific results – new plate heat exchangers and heat exchange modules – at various enterprises. For example, in Kyiv alone, these heat units were installed in the buildings of the Administration of the President of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada, the National Bank of Ukraine, the Ministry of Sports, the Ministry of Energy, the Palace of Arts “Ukrainian House”, the General Directorate of Foreign Missions, foreign embassies and more than 500 other facilities. In total, heat exchange points have been installed at approximately 1,000 facilities in Ukraine, and heat exchangers have been installed in approximately 3,000 institutions and residential buildings. The economic effect of the implementation of such heat exchange equipment is equivalent to 5 million USD per year and is increasing every year.

The scientific staff and teachers of the ITPA department regularly participate in international exhibitions and are involved in the implementation of international projects on energy saving and environmental protection. The high level of development and qualification of our specialists is confirmed by participation in the TACIS, TALK, INTAS, INCO-COPERNICUS, REAP, SYNERGY, TEMPUS, TEMPUS-TACIS programs, as well as in other projects of the sixth and seventh framework programs supported and financed by the European Union.

The staff of the department maintain close scientific ties with scientists from Great Britain, China, the USA, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Russia, Kazakhstan, Moldova. The department publishes a quarterly scientific and practical journal “Integrated Technologies and Energy Saving” and annually holds an international conference “Integrated Technologies and Energy Saving”. With the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and the European Commission in the field of culture and education, the staff of the ITPA department and the Center for Energy-Saving Integrated Technologies regularly conduct a school-seminar on modern methods of energy saving.

The ITPA department is equipped with modern equipment: new modern virtual laboratories have been created; laboratory work in the discipline “Processes and Devices” is integrated with computing equipment for real-time measurements, various complexes are in operation for measuring the physical-mechanical, thermophysical and structural characteristics of materials and coatings, measurements in the field of high-temperature materials science, including the SELMI PES 125K electron microscope, the modern NDSE-10A metallographic microscope, which allows you to magnify objects 1200 times, Q-1500 type derivatographs, etc.

The staff of the ITPA department, based on the materials of scientific research conducted over the past ten years, have prepared for publication and released 12 monographs, over 50 textbooks and teaching aids, over 40 methodological guidelines, 85 articles in foreign publications and over 400 articles in domestic specialized publications, 5 distance learning courses; received 52 patents in Ukraine, the USA and the Russian Federation.

 

For the first time in Russian, a monograph devoted to pinch analysis was published – “Fundamentals of Integration of Thermal Processes” (authors R. Smith, J. Klemesh, L. L. Tovazhnyansky, P. A. Kapustenko, L. M. Ulyev). This book marked the beginning of deep scientific and practical research in the CIS countries as a new scientific direction.

In 2006, a fundamental two-volume monograph by Professor L. M. Ulyev “Laminar Flows in Coaxial Conical Channels” was published, which outlined the basics of the theory of forced laminar flow and heat transfer in coaxial conical channels. In 2005, a team of authors (Professors A. P. Gotlinska, V. O. Leshchenko, I. A. Nechyporenko, I. S. Chernyshov) under the general editorship of Professor L. L. Tovazhnyansky published a two-part textbook “Processes and Devices of Chemical Technology”. In 2007, the textbook was published in Ukrainian.

The direction of process integration, which is being developed by Professors P. O. Kapustenko and L. M. Ulyev with their colleagues, allowed us to substantiate and propose a unified approach that can be applied both to the design of production facilities and to the reconstruction of individual technological processes, as well as industrial complexes as a whole. The theory and new methods of thermal process integration created by the staff of the ITPA department are proposed for use at enterprises that use both continuous production cycles and periodic ones.

The department has developed a unique package of interactive mathematical software for the first time, which allows designing technological schemes of complex heat exchange systems with energy consumption close to the thermodynamically justified minimum. The use of the developed methods also allows assessing the energy-saving potential and the possibility of reducing harmful emissions not only of enterprises, but also of large production complexes.

 

The practical use of the developed theory of integration of thermal processes was reflected in the analysis of energy consumption of various chemical productions and heat supply systems in the housing and communal services, at enterprises of the oil refining, coke-chemical, food, metallurgical industries, construction materials production, etc. The data obtained showed that the energy-saving potential of the surveyed enterprises is 45-60% of their energy consumption. This indicates that the creation, implementation and development of energy-saving integrated technologies at enterprises that are end consumers of the generated energy will not only reduce specific energy consumption, but also significantly reduce harmful emissions from utility facilities.

The use of open fundamental laws within the framework of a new scientific direction allows the creation of fundamentally new technological methods. Their implementation at industrial enterprises of Ukraine that use chemical and technological means of production and processing of products leads to a reduction in specific energy costs by 30-70%.

The created methods also allow designing energy-efficient industrial production systems optimized to the given price. Recent research conducted within the framework of the scientific school has shown that the implementation of measures using the results obtained from the calculations of process integration at enterprises of the chemical and technological cycle of only four regions of North-Eastern Ukraine will allow reducing energy consumption by 10-12 million tons of conventional fuel per year. This corresponds to savings of 8 billion US dollars in terms of oil equivalent. At the same time, carbon monoxide emissions into the atmosphere should decrease by 7.2 million tons per year. The amount of solid waste can be reduced by 30-40% of its current level. The created methods are planned to be further extended to all regions of Ukraine.

Such fundamental research in the world can now be carried out only by scientists from departments of two universities, where process integration methods have been created, developed and are continuously improved. This was also reflected in the names of the departments: at NTU “KhPI” there is the Department of “Integrated Technologies, Processes and Devices”, and at UMIST (University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology) there is the Department of “Process Integration”.

Today, the main scientific directions of the department are:

  • improving the scientific and practical foundations of process integration and the use of its methods;
  • research into the processes of hydrodynamics and heat and mass transfer in the channels of plate heat exchangers;
  • studying and monitoring trends in the integrated use of modern high-efficiency equipment, which allows reducing energy consumption and reducing the amount of harmful emissions;
  • high-temperature materials science;
  • research and improvement of kinetic processes of neutralization of harmful gases, mass transfer processes and aerodynamics, which allow calculating and creating catalytic neutralizers for various heat and power equipment;
  • diffusion carbide surface doping of parts based on ferrous metals;
  • development of special software to increase the speed and quality of engineering calculations;
  • consulting in the field of heat and mass transfer, as well as energy and resource efficiency;
  • expert, methodological and didactic support of the educational process.

The staff of the ITPA department implement the results of their scientific work and provide consulting services to the following industrial enterprises:

  • Kremenchuk MPZ;
  • Kherson MPZ;
  • OJSC “Zaporizhstal”;
  • Mariupol Metallurgical Combine;
  • Avdeevsk Coke Plant;
  • Markohim;
  • Sumykhimprom;
  • Zaporizhzhia Coke Plant;
  • KP “Kharkiv Design Bureau of Engine Building”;
  • SE ZMKB “Progress” named after Academician O. G. Ivchenko;
  • Shchokinoazot;
  • Sredneoural Copper Smelting Plant;
  • CJSC “Pivdenkabel”;
  • Sterlitamak OJSC “Soda”;
  • Kharkiv Tile Plant;
  • CJSC “Biscuit-Chocolate”;
  • CJSC “Chervony Khimik” and others.