Programmatically targeted financing

BR28713197 Caspian Center for Sustainable Innovation: scientific and academic promotion of alternative solutions for the region's transition to a greener future (2025-2027).

The program is aimed at solving the problems of socio-economic development on the scale of the Republic of Kazakhstan, specified in the Instruction of the President Kasym-Jomart Tokayev at the meeting of the National Council on Science and Technology under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated 12.04.2024, No. 24-01-12.1, (clause 4.4 "Develop the research component of universities within the framework of program-targeted financing, including for the phased implementation of the creation of centers of academic excellence").

Goal of the program:  Develop innovative technologies aimed at creating new materials and devices for cleaning hydrogen sulfide and sulfur gases, innovative composite materials based on polypropylene to ensure safety in urban ecosystems with the creation of a research and technology center to ensure integrated and sustainable innovative development of the Caspian region.

Assignments of the Program

1. Develop an innovative technology for the utilization of hydrogen sulfide-containing gases, oil sludge with the production of sulfur composite materials.

- analyze the effect of the process gas composition, existing methods of utilization and development of new functional materials;

- study the effect of the composition of the binary mixture of amine solution and liquid hydrocarbon fraction on the efficiency of removing acidic components;

- develop a process flow chart for cleaning acidic components from gases;

- create a solar power plant for the utilization of sulfur-containing waste and oil sludge with the stages of dehydration, thermolysis and neutralization;

- develop a sulfur melting technique that takes into account the optimal temperature and time parameters;

- create a laboratory for the preparation, processing and utilization of sulfur waste to obtain sulfur composite materials, sulfuric acid, etc.;

- evaluate the effectiveness of the developed technologies; introduce production of energy fuel at deposits, sulfur compositions for the construction industry.

2. Development of technologies to reduce the volume of consumed resources, reuse of biomaterials that help improve the state of the environment to achieve the SDGs (2,6,11,12,13,15).

- monitor sources of pollutant emissions and waste generated in urban ecosystems;

- analyze the chemical composition of water and soil for the content of sulfur compounds, heavy metals and oil products;

- develop a concept of new technical solutions for cleaning hydrogen sulfide-containing natural and waste water by physicochemical methods using sorbents;

- formulate recommendations for growing crops in soilless conditions (hydroponics, aeroponics and aquaponics) in regions with arid climates;

- create a laboratory of ecology and environmental protection;

- create innovative technologies and develop effective solutions in the field of ecosystem protection.

3.Creation of innovative solutions and development of technologies in robotics and mechatronics aimed at improving productivity, efficiency and safety.

-develop an algorithm for controlling robots in conditions of limited data in dynamically changing environments to create adaptive models;

-design the structure, interfaces and hardware and software components of sensors for robots, taking into account their functional tasks, compatibility and integration;

-create sensor systems for robot operation in various conditions;

-create prototypes of robots integrating mechatronic and electronic components with the definition of system tasks and architecture design;

-create an industrial robotics laboratory;

-develop methodological recommendations for the integration of mechanical and electronic components in robots.

4. Development of innovative composite materials based on PP, including those filled with additives of various natures.

- monitor existing PP processing technologies in order to identify their limitations and optimization opportunities;

- study the composition and determine the characteristics of PP types, cellulose additives, lignin and other heteropolymers;

- identify the potential of secondary and biopolymer additives for the creation of environmentally sustainable and cost-effective composites based on PP;

- identify promising areas of research in the development of composite materials, their application in industry;

- develop methods for introducing fillers into the polymer matrix with a study of the rheological properties and morphology of composites for various temperatures;

- develop a mechanism for controlling the degree of crystallinity of the polymer for the use of PP as a raw material for 3D printing;

- develop recommendations for the use of natural additives to modify the properties of PP;

- formulate approaches to the creation of mathematical models describing the mechanisms of interaction of PP with various fillers;

- create a laboratory equipped with equipment for studying polymeric materials, ensuring a full cycle of development, analysis, testing of new composite materials;

5. Development of technology for obtaining valuable components from plant and animal raw materials using biotechnical methods.

- analyze the effect of plant growth stimulants on the productivity and resistance of plants to adverse conditions;

- analyze the composition of fish feed using microorganisms and secondary raw materials to obtain feed using a new technology;

- study the parameters of germination energy under the influence of growth stimulants of the studied plants and live fish feed;

- develop innovative technologies for obtaining high-quality plant raw materials and seeds, fish feed using beneficial microorganisms;

- create a biotechnology laboratory to study the composition of medicinal and essential oil raw materials, morphological, biochemical, physiological properties of microorganisms with the production of high-quality seeds and their raw material mass in arid conditions;

- evaluate the economic efficiency of the developed innovative technologies;

- implement into production the developed agrotechnical technologies for growing flax, industrial hemp and reed, preparing feed for juveniles and adults of sturgeon and other fish species, based on the use of microorganisms and secondary raw materials.

TRL assignments 1-5 at the application stage (2025):

Category A: TRL-2. Technical concept - The main elements of the technology being developed have been defined. The stages of the experiment have been defined. The means and infrastructure that will be used have been defined.

Result: Scientific articles will be published describing the results of studying the objects of study.

TRL assignments 1-5 at the intermediate stage of program implementation (2026):

Category A: TRL-4. Confirmation of the concept by developing a prototype of the technology - Support from secondary data complements the previously obtained source data. The integrated basic components of the method and the creation process work well and are stable.

Result: A laboratory prototype of the technology and copyright objects will be obtained. TRL assignments 1-5 at the final stage of program implementation (2027):

Category B: TRL-7. Demonstration of the system prototype as part of existing systems in real operating conditions - Testing of a full-scale, fully functional prototype in conditions corresponding to reality.

Result: The created laboratories will be platforms for the promotion of scientific projects to achieve pre-production levels.

To solve these strategic tasks, the scientific and technical program consists of 5 directions:

Direction 1. Development of innovative technology for the utilization of hydrogen sulfide-containing gases and oil sludge to produce sulfur composite materials;

Direction 2. Development of technologies to reduce the amount of resources consumed, reuse of materials, biomaterials, technologies that contribute to improving the environment in order to achieve the goals of the SDGs (2,6,11,12,13,15);

Direction 3. Creation of innovative solutions and development of technologies in robotics and mechatronics aimed at improving productivity, efficiency and safety;

Direction 4. Development of innovative composite materials based on PP, including those filled with additives of various nature;

Direction 5. Development of technology for obtaining valuable components from plant and animal raw materials by biotechnical methods.

The project involves 45 researchers and co-implementers represented by Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (KazNU) (task 1), UNESCO Chair on Sustainable Development (Almaty) and Nazarbayev University (NU) (task 3), Advanced robotics and mechatronics systems (ARMS) Laboratory (Astana).

The project manager Doctor of Chemical Sciences, Professor Shambilova G.K. carries out strategic coordination through the leading implementers of the project: Dzheksenov M.K., PhD in Geogr. (task 1), Yesenamanova M.S., PhD in Engineering (task 2), Sharmukhanbet S.R., PhD (task 3), Iskakov R.M., DSc, Kadasheva Zh.K., PhD (task 4), Sagyndykova S.Z., DSc in Biology (task 5). The leading implementers oversee the implementation of these tasks.