WO2015002574A1

WO2015002574A1 - Method for producing bio-gel and a bio-gel

Info

Publication number: WO2015002574A1
Application number: PCT/RU2014/000484
Authority: WO
Inventors: Оксана Владимировна ВОЛОДИНА; Александр Владимирович СМОРОДЬКО
Original assignee: Volodina Oxana Vladimirovna
Priority date: 2013-07-03
Filing date: 2014-07-02
Publication date: 2015-01-08
Also published as: RU2533235C1

Abstract

The invention relates to a technique for producing a bio-gel based on peat. The technical result consists in developing a method for producing a bio-gel by means of which a bio-gel comprising nanoparticles can be produced. This result is achieved in that peat having a pre-set moisture content and being mixed with a predetermined volume of water is charged into a dispersion chamber, the dispersion chamber is sealed, a predetermined static pressure is generated in the dispersion chamber, and the contents of the dispersion chamber are treated with ultrasonic vibrations having a sound intensity of at least 50 W/cm², which provide, for a pre-set period of time, a sound pressure on the mixture of peat and water which exceeds the static pressure by a predetermined value.

Description

METHOD FOR PRODUCING BIOGEL AND BIOGEL

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to techniques for producing peat-based biogel, which biogel has the widest application.

State of the art

Currently, various methods for producing biogel, including from peat, are known. All of these methods include grinding peat particles.

So, in the RF patent jNb 2188628 (publ. September 10, 2002) a cosmetic product based on an aqueous extract of mixed peat mud is disclosed, and in the RF patent N ° 2256438 (publ. July 20, 2005) the mud paste is additionally wiped through a sieve. With such mechanical grinding, particles of the order of tens or even hundreds of micrometers are obtained.

RF patents _NaNs 2228921 (publ. 06/20/2004) and 2475038 (publ. 02/20/2013) describe methods for producing biogel from peat in which the feedstock is treated with an alkaline solution before grinding. However, chemical treatment destroys the humic substances originally found in peat.

In the patent application of the Russian Federation JYS 2006137086 (published on April 27, 2008), a method for hydration of biopolymers by cavitation and a gel-like product from hydrated biomass are described. This method has very limited application, because an aqueous solution of salts is subjected to cavitation.

In the patent of the Russian Federation N_> 2279323 (publ. 10.07.2006) grinding is carried out using ultrasonic cavitation, and in the patents of the Russian Federation Ν ° Νο 2304460 (publ. 20.08.2007), 2331478 (publ. 20.08.2008) and 2446852 (publ. . 04/10/2010) ultrasonic cavitation is carried out in the presence of static pressure in the reactor chamber.

A common drawback of all known methods for producing a biogel is that the resulting biogel has a particle size of the order of micrometers, as a result of which the use of such a biogel is very limited, since the smaller the particle size of the biogel, the higher its effectiveness as a medicine and (or) cosmetic.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to expand the arsenal of existing technical means by developing such a method for producing a biogel, with which it is possible to obtain a biogel with nanosized particles. This allows for a much wider use of such a bio gel.

To solve the problem and achieve the technical result in the first object of the present invention, a method for producing a biogel is provided, which is a water-peat gel with particle sizes of dispersed peat no more than 40-60 nm, which includes: loading peat of a predetermined humidity mixed with a given volume of water into a dispersion chamber; sealing the dispersion chamber; serves in a sealed dispersion chamber a predetermined static pressure; they process the contents of the dispersion chamber with ultrasonic vibrations with a sound density of at least 50 W / cm, which provide for a predetermined time the sound pressure on the peat-water mixture exceeding the static pressure by a predetermined value.

A feature of the method of the present invention is that the sound pressure can exceed the static pressure by 2-3 times. Another feature of the method of the present invention is that the frequency of ultrasonic vibrations can be controlled in the range of 15-30 kHz while adjusting the static pressure to reliably disperse peat particles to the indicated sizes.

At the same time, the adjustment of the frequency of ultrasonic vibrations can occur in the mode: initial exposure in the range of 15-20 kHz for 4-6 minutes and final exposure in the range of 20-30 kHz for 4-6 minutes.

Another feature of the method of the present invention is that peat may have a moisture content in the range of 60-80%.

Moreover, in a mixture of peat with water, the ratio of peat to water may lie in the range from 1: 1.5 to 1: 3.5.

In a second aspect of the present invention, a biogel is provided, which is a water-peat gel with a particle size of dispersed peat of 40-60 nm, obtained by the method of the first aspect of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Before describing the proposed method, it is necessary to dwell in more detail on the source material that is used in this method to obtain a biogel.

Peat is a capillary substance that is difficult to disperse. With mechanical grinding of peat, the minimum achievable particle size is about 100 microns. Attempts to mechanically crush peat into smaller particles, for example, by means of a vibrating or gas-jet device, lead to the spreading of peat on the surface of such a mechanical device.

Peat generally has some humidity. For use in the method of the present invention, peat moisture may be in range from 60 to 80%, although its deviations in any direction are quite acceptable.

The method of the present invention is implemented in devices that are a sealed dispersion chamber, into which the starting material (peat of a given humidity) is loaded in a mixture with a given volume of water, and then a static pressure of a given value is created by the pump. After that, the contents of the sealed dispersion chamber are exposed to ultrasound, the source of which can be either a magnetostrictive transducer known to specialists, located, say, under the bottom of the chamber, or a magnetoacoustic generator in which the cylindrical wall of the chamber vibrates under the action of the induced in it eddy currents (see RF patent N ° ... according to application 2012129570). Any of these treatments causes the formation of cavitation bubbles in a peat-water mixture with their subsequent collapse. It is known (see Ultrasound. Small Encyclopedia. Head. Ed. IP Golyamin. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979. - 400 s) that a collapsing cavitation bubble is able to disperse solid particles larger than its own maximum size. Thus, by appropriate selection of parameters in the method of the present invention, peat particles are crushed to values of the order of tens of nanometers.

The method of the present invention is carried out as follows. Peat of a given moisture content is mixed with water in a proportion of 1: 1, 5 to 1: 3.5. The resulting peat-water mixture is loaded into a dispersion chamber, which, after loading, is sealed, and then a static pressure of about 5-7 atmospheres is applied to it by a pump. Next, the generator is switched on, connected to an ultrasonic transducer that generates an ultrasonic signal with a frequency of the order of 15–20 kHz and with an amplitude that provides sound pressure in the peat-water mixture, twice or three times the static pressure in the dispersion chamber. Such ultrasonic treatment of the water-peat mixture takes about 4-6 minutes.

Since the size of peat particles decreases in the process of cavitation in the dispersion chamber, the size of the cavitation bubbles arising should be reduced accordingly. The maximum bubble size depends on the time of its growth, and, hence, on the frequency of scoring. Therefore, for finer dispersion of peat particles in the next 4-6 minutes, the treatment can be carried out at a higher frequency (20-30 kHz). In principle, the frequency of ultrasound can be gradually increased during the entire processing of a loaded portion of a peat-water mixture, then the final particle sizes of peat will be of the order of 40-60 nm.

It is only necessary to bear in mind that a decrease in the growth time of a cavitation bubble reduces the kinetic energy of the fluid flows arising during its collapse, which destroy peat particles. Therefore, in order to maintain the dynamics of dispersion, the static pressure in the dispersion chamber should be increased to 7-10 atmospheres with an increase in the frequency of ultrasonic vibrations.

In the case when the considered ultrasonic treatment is carried out using a magnetoacoustic device in which ultrasonic vibrations are excited due to vibration of the thin wall of the dispersion chamber, the area of the emitting surface becomes much larger than when using a magnetostrictive transducer. Therefore, the process efficiency is significantly increased and the dispersion time of a unit mass of water-saturated peat is reduced.

As a result of this treatment, a biogel is formed in the dispersion chamber, whose properties are determined by the content of humic acids and fulvic acids, i.e. water soluble humic acids. These are high molecular weight organic substances whose molecular size is It is from 35 to 45 nm. Since in the method of the present invention, peat particles are crushed to 40-60 nm in the absence of chemical as well as thermal treatment, humic and fulvic acids are practically not destroyed and show their full activity in the resulting biogel.

This biogel can be used not only as a medicine or cosmetic, but also in crop production as a plant growth stimulator, presowing treatment of seeds to stimulate their germination, and also as a protection of seeds from fungi, mold and pathogenic bacteria and for disinfecting cereal crops after long-term storage. The Appendix contains the report of the Kursk State University dated February 27, 2013 confirming the effectiveness of the biogel of the present invention. Thus, the present invention makes it possible to obtain a biogel from a peat-water mixture in which beneficial substances do not lose their effectiveness, because The method of the present invention provides dispersed peat particles with sizes of the order of 40-60 nm and does not use any chemical or thermal treatment.

Claims

Claim

1. A method of obtaining a biogel, which is a water-peat gel with particle sizes of dispersed peat no more than 40-60 nm, which consists in the fact that:

- load peat of a predetermined moisture content in a mixture with a predetermined volume of water into a dispersion chamber;

- sealing said dispersion chamber;

- a predetermined static pressure is fed into the sealed dispersion chamber;

- process the contents of the said dispersion chamber by ultrasonic vibrations with a sound density of at least 50 W / cm, providing for a predetermined time the sound pressure on said peat-water mixture exceeding the said static pressure by a predetermined value.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein said sound pressure exceeds said static pressure by a factor of 2–3.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, in which the frequency of said ultrasonic vibrations is controlled in the range of 15-30 kHz while simultaneously adjusting the static pressure to reliably disperse the particles of said peat to the mentioned sizes.

4. The method according to p. 3, in which the aforementioned adjustment of the frequency of ultrasonic vibrations is carried out in the following mode: initial exposure in the range of 15-20 kHz for 4-6 minutes and final exposure in the range of 20-30 kHz for 4- 6 minutes

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein said peat has a moisture content in the range of 60-80%.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein in said mixture of peat with water, the ratio of peat to water ranges from 1: 1.5 to 1: 3.5.

7. Biogel, which is a water-peat gel with particle sizes of dispersed peat no more than 40-60 nm, obtained by the method according to any one of paragraphs. 1-6.