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Archive: Past events and news
2025
Chemistry Education Research Group: New Textbook published
The textbook entitled “Brückenkurs Chemie - Kompaktes Wissen für den Studienstart” (in German only) was published at the turn of the year. Co-author of the book is Prof. Timm Wilke, head of the Chemistry Education Research Group. The book aims to provide first-year students with an overview of chemistry just as a bridge course would do.
Working Group Wark: Helping the climate with peat-free potting soil
Conventional potting soils and other gardening substrates usually contain peat, which is extracted from bogs. However, during the process of peat extraction large amounts of CO2 are released into the atmosphere and contribute to climate change. To protect peatlands, their biodiversity and the climate, a team of researchers led by Michael Wark, Professor of Technical Chemistry at the University of Oldenburg's Institute of Chemistry, is developing biochars and hydrochars from green waste and other waste biomass as peat substitutes.
The project, entitled "Peat-free, Climate-Friendly Plant Substrates from Hydrochar and Biochar" (TOPKO), will run until April 2027. The University of Oldenburg will receive around 633,000 euros from the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture to fund the project and has partnered with two companies, Torfwerk Moorkultur Ramsloh Werner Koch GmbH & Co. KG from the municipality of Saterland and Floragard Vertriebs-GmbH from Oldenburg, to implement it.
The participants aim to develop a regional circular economy in which the raw materials used in the project remain in the region throughout the various stages of production. Instead of importing common peat substitutes such as coconut pulp and fibre from India or Sri Lanka, they will use green waste sourced from local landscape conservation areas and through extensive peatland management methods such as paludiculture to produce and test various biochars and hydrochars. Agricultural residues in liquid form, such as liquid manure or digestate from biogas plants, are particularly suitable for the production of hydrochars, while pyrolysis biochars are produced by the carbonisation of green waste in a process similar to that used to produce charcoal. The chars will then be used for co-composting by mixing them with other compost materials.
The researchers will first test the resulting char-compost mixtures in a greenhouse under controlled conditions to determine how well the peat-free substrates perform as potting soil. This will be followed by container experiments with typical plant nursery shrubs, before the co-composting is tested on an industrial scale. The results will serve as the basis for the development of a market-ready, peat-free regional gardening substrate for use in agriculture, plant nurseries and private horticulture.
The researchers will carry out live cycle assessments during the project to evaluate the sustainability of the carbon cycle. The project partners will also conduct socio-economic analyses to assess the reactions of potential customers to the newly developed alternative substrates and the resulting market opportunities.
[Source: InfoPortal of the Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg]
more at: AG Wark
and: TOPKO project (German only) and background information on TOPKO
2024
Dr Dmitry Momotenko appointed Professor of Technical Chemistry
Dr Dmitry Momotenko has been appointed Professor of Technical Chemistry of Smart Manufacturing at the Institute of Chemistry. He studied chemistry at the Lomonosov University in Moscow (Russia) and graduated in 2009. In 2013, he completed his doctorate at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Switzerland).
Momotenko then worked at the University of Warwick (United Kingdom) with a Marie Curie Fellowship from the European Union before he moved to the ETH Zurich (Switzerland) in 2017, where he obtained an Ambizione Grant. Since 2021, he has headed a junior research group at the University of Oldenburg for which he was awarded an ERC Starting Grant from the European Research Council.
Momotenko's main research interests include additive manufacturing, nanomanipulation, scanning probe microscopy and chemical sensing. He is currently developing new electrochemical energy storage interfaces. For example, he is developing an innovative three-dimensional and electrochemical printing process to produce nanostructured electrodes for lithium-ion batteries. His aim is to develop a new concept for energy storage – for example for mobile electronic devices, electric vehicles or robotic systems – that will enable to drastically reduce charging times.
[Source: New appointees at the Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg]
more under: WG Momotenko