On September 27, 2019, in Nur-Sultan, in the Congress Center, within the framework of the Program of the XII Eurasian Forum “KazEnergy: The Future of Energy Sources: Innovative Growth”, pursuant to the “Action Plan of the Pugwash Committee of Kazakhstan (PCK) for 2019”, Professor, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Tleuken Akhmetov, PCK Secretary, took part in organizing and conducting the roundtable: “Clean Coal: “Innovations and Ecological Compatibility”.
In Kazakhstan, the coal industry is one of the most important resource sectors. Currently, its contribution to GDP is about 1.5%. In 2018, 113.7 million tons of coal was mined in the country, which is 6.5% more than in 2017.
According to the Concept for the transition of Kazakhstan to the “green economy”, the government plans to implement a comprehensive project for the extraction of coalbed methane (CBM). Also, the strategy for organizing exploration and production of CBM, approved by the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2016, has been updated.
The issues for discussion at the roundtable were:
- Coal sector development strategy: what are the prospects for coal production?
- New approaches to the development of the coal industry.
- Greening of coal production.
- Unique “clean coal” technologies: how to make coal cleaner?
- Foreign experience in implementing environmentally friendly technologies for the use of coal and the recovery of coal combustion by- products.
Young scientists were brought in as speakers at the roundtable:
- Dzheldybaeva I.M., PhD, senior research associate at the Research Institute “New Chemical Technologies and Materials”, who presented on the topic: “Complex processing of solid fuels: current status and prospects.”
- Aitbekova D.E., 2nd year doctoral student at Buketov Karaganda State University made a presentation on “Catalytic processing of heavy hydrocarbons.”
- Kenesov B.N., professor, Candidate of Chemical Sciences, Director of the Center for Physical and Chemical Research and Analysis Methods at Al-Farabi Kazakh National University made a report on “The contribution of coal energy to air pollution in megalopolises, using the example of the city of Almaty.”
The following persons took an active part in the roundtable discussions:
Mukhanov T.M., First Deputy Executive Director of the Association of Legal Entities “Republican Association of Mining and Mining and Metallurgical Enterprises of Kazakhstan”, who noted the importance of creating special economic zones around coal enterprises for the development of high-value coal production with the provision of tax benefits to Kazakhstan coal miners.
- Dr. Tateeva А.B., professor of the Department of Chemical Technology and Ecology at Buketov Karaganda State University (moderator).
- Dr. Akhmetov T.Z. drew attention of the participants to the potential of scientists in PCK at the General Committee of the Kazakhstan National Academy for Natural Sciences, who are involved in various research activities, including energy and environmental safety. For example, Dr. Shkolnik V.S. with his colleagues during the “World Congress of Engineers and Scientists” within the framework of EXPO-2017 presented a review report “Global trends in the field of carbon dioxide utilization and Kazakhstan realities”, where it was noted that fuel and energy, metallurgical, chemical and other industrial complexes are suppliers of large volumes of pollutants (dust, soot, sulfur compounds and organic substances, nitrogen oxides, etc.) whose role in the formation of the “greenhouse effect” might be more significant than that of carbon dioxide.
- Tarasov G.A., Managing Director on Innovations and Marketing of Engineering Company “KazGiproNefteTrans”LLP, expressed interest in Dzheldybaeva’s report and readiness to discuss the possibility of cooperation with the Research Institute “New Chemical Technologies and Materials” on methane processing in the extraction of brown coal at the Kushmurun deposit in Kostanai region.
- Akchulakov B.U., Director General of “KazEnergy” Association thanked everyone for participating in the Round Table, noting the active participation of young scientists. He also expressed appreciation to PCK for participation and support in organizing the gathering, which was held at a high level.
At the end of the roundtable, the participants were given the copies of a publication specially prepared by the Research Institute “New Chemical Technologies and Materials”, co-authored by Zh. Kairbekov and I. Dzheldybaeva “Comprehensive processing of solid fossil fuels: current status and prospects” (in Russian and English).