The third school-conference of young scientists dedicated to the deep processing of oil and gas, coal and vegetable organic raw materials was held in Krasnoyarsk. The event was organized by the Krasnoyarsk Science Center SB RAS, Siberian Federal University and G. K. Boreskov Institute of Catalysis SB RAS. The event was supported by the Russian Science Foundation.

The conference brought together more than fifty participants from Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Biysk and other cities of Russia. Students, as well as schoolchildren from the chemical class of the RAS-supervised school came to listen to the presentations of eminent lecturers in the field of catalysis. Young researchers and prominent scientists discussed current topics in the chemistry of processing of natural and plant materials. Bioprocessing is one of the trends which all leading companies are trying to follow.

According to Yevgeny Vaganov, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Academician of RAS, scientific supervisor of SibFU, the development of technologies for processing biomass of plant materials is becoming one of the most important mechanisms for implementing the concept of the economy of renewable resources. This manufacturing sector reduces human pressure on the environment. The program for the development of biotechnologies of the Russian Federation stipulates that, first of all, this industry is to focus on processes which allow obtaining a final product with high added value.

The Doctor of Chemical Sciences, Deputy Director of the Institute of Chemistry and Chemical Technology KSC SB RAS, Boris Kuznetsov notes that Russia ranks first in the world in terms of timber reserves, with a huge amount of timber being procured annually. However, up to 60% of the resources go to waste, which leads to the loss of income. For this reason, deep chemical processing of wood waste is important. Scientists are developing new methods for the catalytic processing of raw materials. One of them is lignin processing, which accounts for up to one third of wood biomass.

The main direction of research in this area is the development of catalysts, catalytic processes which will allow one to obtain various chemical products and components of motor fuels from lignin. The direction of biomass processing based on preliminary fractionation of biomass into polysaccharides and lignin is also promising. In the future, this will allow much simpler processing.

The Candidate of Chemical Sciences, research associate at the G.K. Boreskov Institute of Catalysis SB , Andrey Chikunov spoke about one of the approaches to lignin processing - hydrogenolysis. This method is based on breaking carbon bonds in organic compounds. To achieve the results, the scientists tested the effectiveness of various additives - hydrogen and formic acid, as well as nickel or ruthenium as process catalysts.

The Krasnoyarsk Science Center of SB RAS provided great support in organizing the event. This is far from accidental. As noted by Boris Kuznetsov, the Institute of Chemistry and Chemical Technology SB RAS has been working in the field of biomass processing for a long time. The Krasnoyarsk chemists are concerned with various priority areas, ranging from the isolation and synthesis of biologically active compounds from plant materials to the catalytic processing of biomass and its components into valuable chemical compounds and components of biofuel.