On March 28th, Switzerland local time, the results of the 2022 International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva were announced. The seven teams of the SOE participating in the exhibition won a total of two gold prizes and five silver prizes, marking a new record in the number of prizes.
Professor Yue Dongbei (first from right) at work
The project “Technology and Equipment for Submerged Combustion and Delayed Evaporation” completed by Prof. Yue Dongbei’s team won the gold prize. It promotes heat transfer and restrains mass transfer through pressure regulation, thus realizing for the first time the recovery of pure steam while retaining the advantages of submerged combustion evaporation such as anti-scaling.
Associate Professor Zhao Ming's team
The project “Tar-free Gasification Technology for Solid Waste” completed by Associate Professor Zhao Ming’s team won the gold prize. The organic solid waste is converted to combustible gas in the invented “RunTsing Gasifier”. Through the unique double oxidation layer structure enabled by multiple air supplies, it solves the tar problem of gasification technology, and thus increases the efficiency and gas quality. It maximizes solid waste reduction and resource recovery with minimized bottom ash containing carbon content of less than 3%. With multi-point parameters and an automatic control system, the device is more stable and safer. And the gas produced can be transformed to multiple forms such as heat, electricity and chemicals. Therefore, the project is of great significance for creating zero-waste cities, easing the pressure of natural gas supply and optimizing the energy structure.
Professor Hu Hongying's team
Professor Hu Hongying’s team won the silver prize with the project “Ultimate-disinfection Technology with Low Toxic By-products for Wastewater Treatment”. In the project, the ultimate disinfection technology with the synergism of ozone, UV and chlorine collaborative was introduced, a mathematical model of ultimate disinfection was established, and a process design software was developed, and the project has been applied in many large-scale reclaimed water plants. Compared with conventional disinfection methods, this technology can improve disinfection efficiency, reduce the generation of disinfection by-products, and effectively ensure the safety of reclaimed water quality.
Professor LI Jinhui’s team
The project of “In-situ Reduction Extraction Technology of Energy Metals from Spent Lithium ion Batteries” developed by Professor Li Jinhui’s team won the silver prize. It uses the inherent zero-valent metal scrap in spent lithium-ion batteries as reducing agent to enhance the recovery of energy metals such as Co, Mn and Ni through in-situ reduction reaction, thus not only realizing the near-complete extraction of energy metals, but also avoiding the addition of reducing agent and reducing the consumption of leaching agent. While meeting the needs for sustainable utilization of strategic metal resources, the technology significantly improves the environmental benefits of the recovery process.
Integrated Mechanochemical System
The project “Integrated Mechanochemical System for Green and Sustainable Remediation of Contaminated Soil” completed by the team led by Associate Professor Huang Jun and Professor Yu Gang won the silver prize. Based on the mechanochemical principle, the system, through shear, friction, impact and other mechanical forces, can batch produce a variety of environmental functional materials for contaminated soil remediation applications, such as defluorination agent, reductive dehalogenation agent and persulfate activator. It is environmentally friendly, as the process conditions are mild with no heating, pressurization, acid/alkali and other harsh conditions required, and no waste water, waste gases and residues wastes are generated. Besides, the resulting materials have multiple advantages such as uniform appearance and long-lasting surface activity.
The team led by Associate Professor Zhang Fang and Professor Li Guanghe
The project “A Mobile Modular Rapid Treatment System for Groundwater Pollution” developed by the team led by Associate Professor Zhang Fang and Professor Li Guanghe won the silver prize. The system can flexibly and intelligently select the appropriate physicochemical combination process in the module for rapid and efficient treatment of complex groundwater pollution types, and has been successfully applied in polluted sites in Tianjin, Ningbo and other cities.
The project “Artificial Intelligence Control Technology (AI-CT) for Urban Sewage Treatment System”
The project “Artificial Intelligence Control Technology (AI-CT) for Urban Sewage Treatment System” developed by Associate Researcher Qiu Yong’s team won the silver prize. Taking more than ten years to develop, the technology is based on AI cloud computing and edge intelligence technology, and can achieve the effects of water inlet and outlet prediction, knowledge map fault diagnosis, optimal control of nitrogen and phosphorus removal and early warning of microbial activity. It has been applied in 24 urban sewage treatment plants in 11 provinces in China, with a total treatment scale of over 1.6 million tons per day. It significantly improves the automation and intelligence level of sewage treatment plants, considerably reduces energy consumption, material consumption and operating costs, and provides strong support for energy saving and carbon reduction in the industry.
The International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva was founded in 1973 and is held annually, except 2020 due to the pandemic. By 2022, 47 sessions and 2 special editions online were successfully held. The large-scale international exhibition is under the patronage of the Swiss Federal Government, the State, the City of Geneva and of the World Intellectual Property Organization, and it is one of the longest-running and largest invention exhibitions in the world.
