Scientists from St. Petersburg have found a way to combat the illegal disposal of industrial wastewater. This water often contains hazardous substances that can pollute water bodies. The solution is to use radio tags. Environmentalists believe that the effectiveness of the method needs to be tested in practice under different conditions.
The development is a chip with a small printed antenna that stores information about the object and allows it to be read from a distance of several meters using a special RFID reader.
Protecting water bodies from industrial pollution remains an extremely important task, as they serve as sources of drinking water for millions of people, animals, and plants.
Some enterprises illegally connect their wastewater to the storm sewer system, which does not have treatment facilities. As a result, toxic substances, heavy metals, oils, and other pollutants enter water bodies.
To solve this problem, it is necessary to regularly inspect enterprises and monitor the storm sewer system. This will help identify illegal connections and prevent pollution. However, existing monitoring methods, such as visual inspection, smoke tests, and chemical analysis, are either expensive or not always effective in detecting all types of pollution.
We investigated the possibility of using passive radio frequency identification technology for the rapid detection of unauthorized connections and discharges of industrial wastewater into the storm sewer system. It is based on the use of cheap sensors with a built-in RFID tag, the movement of which through the sewer pipes can be tracked automatically.
Passive RFID tags are lightweight, compact, and inexpensive. But in sewer pipes, they are difficult to read because the radio signal is absorbed by the ground and shielded by water. Therefore, scientists focused on creating effective sensors and ways to reliably read them in storm sewers.
The essence of the method
This method uses special sensors that are dropped into the drain wells of industrial enterprises. Each sensor is equipped with an RFID tag with a unique EPC code, which records the time and place of discharge. If someone illegally connects an industrial drain to the storm sewer, the sensor will eventually end up in the control well. There, its code will be read and transmitted to the server for data processing.
The proposed approach allows you to simultaneously check several sewer drains, which is much faster and more convenient than the traditional method with dyes or isotopes. The sensors record the time and place of discharge, which helps to accurately determine the path of wastewater, even if it takes a long time.
To assess the operation of sensors in pipes of different bends, diameters, and contents, we created special stands that simulate sections of the storm sewer system. These tests have shown that our method has great potential. Based on the data obtained, we improved the design of the sensors.
Then we conducted an experiment on a straight section of a real storm sewer system on the territory of LLC "Ecoprom" in St. Petersburg. This company manages the sewer system in the Obukhovo industrial zone.
Experiments have shown that RFID technology works reliably underground: all sensors that floated into the control well were repeatedly and reliably read by the reader. However, the time it takes for them to travel through the pipes through shallows and blockages can be long and poorly predictable. To increase the speed and convenience of deploying the monitoring system, we equipped the operator's station in a minibus. Nevertheless, such an on-site post is clearly not enough.
Therefore, in the future, it is planned to create stationary automated systems that will monitor the sensors installed in places where the storm sewer system discharges water into water bodies.
Earlier, scientists from St. Petersburg created unique zinc nanosheets that can become the basis for effective water purification. This material is not only safe for the environment, but also has antibacterial properties, which makes it even more attractive for use in water treatment facilities. Moreover, nanosheets are capable of removing over 90% of toxic organic compounds, which makes them truly indispensable in the fight for clean water.
Read materials on the topic:
A new method for diagnosing power plant malfunctions has been created in Samara
A new remedy for combating oil spills has been developed in Russia
"Nano-balls" at war with radiation: a new radiation protection has been invented in Krasnoyarsk
