Dr. Nguyen Minh Viet, a Chemistry Doctor, is always concerned about how to research and develop products, build production processes for products serving life such as combustion materials that reduce emissions, clean fuels, natural essential oils applied in human life...
Project of extracting essential oils and tablets from orange and grapefruit peels
Dr. Nguyen Minh Viet is currently a lecturer at the Faculty of Chemical Technology, Hanoi University of Industry. He graduated with a Bachelor of Organic Chemistry - Petrochemistry, then a Master of Organic Chemistry - Petrochemistry and Business Administration from Hanoi University of Science and Technology. In 2011, he graduated with a PhD in Chemistry from the Vietnam Institute of Industrial Chemistry.
Mr. Viet impressed with his passion for scientific research. He received a certificate of merit for guiding a student to win second prize at the National "Students with Startup Ideas" contest in 2024. Recently, he received a certificate of authorship for the solution to extract essential oils and compressed tablets from orange and grapefruit peels, and guided students to start a business with Pectin extraction and production of biofertilizer from dragon fruit peels.
Sharing with Dan Viet newspaper reporter, Dr. Viet said that among the research topics, the most impressive project for him was the research project on separating essential oils and making compressed charcoal pellets from orange and grapefruit peels - ZestAroma.
Dr. Nguyen Minh Viet with the solution of extracting essential oils and compressed tablets from orange and grapefruit peel. Photo: NVCC
"Initially, our research team found that the amount of raw materials for growing citrus trees (oranges and grapefruits) is abundant in Vietnam. According to statistics in 2022, the total area is 210,000 hectares, of which the orange growing area is about 100,000 hectares and grapefruit is also over 100,000 hectares, distributed in many specialized growing areas in the Northern provinces. Of which, the output of citrus peels is about 15% of the fruit output. The output of discarded fruit is about 20% of the harvested fruit output.
The research team has come up with a plan to extract essential oils from orange and grapefruit peels at the laboratory of the Faculty of Chemical Technology to serve essential oils for the food processing, cosmetics, detergents and deodorants. These products have natural flavors that are of interest to the market, are clean products, bring safety and ensure the health of users," Mr. Viet shared.
After processing essential oils from orange and grapefruit peels, the research team found that a large amount of peels containing cellulose were discarded. The team met to propose solutions to solve the problem of waste after essential oil extraction.
At first, the group made compost, but because of the unpleasant smell, the group turned to the method of making organic microbial fertilizer. However, after a period of product research, although the results were as expected, the price was quite high, making it difficult to compete, making it difficult to commercialize the product.
Teacher Viet with students. Photo: NVCC
The group continues to propose a plan to produce compressed charcoal pellets. The group's goal is to focus on exporting to major markets such as Japan, EU, China... at an acceptable price. In addition, through the export market, the research group wants to build a domestic energy supply for businesses that need clean energy from compressed charcoal pellets and develop new product lines that ensure "green" standards at the same time at a reasonable price.
Because the lab did not have enough research equipment, Mr. Viet's team had to adjust and test at the company. This time took a lot of effort and money, sometimes the teacher and students had to stay at the company for 3-4 days to test.
Overcoming difficulties to do scientific research
Dr. Viet also pointed out the difficulties of students when participating in scientific research. Limited expertise because students participating in scientific research are usually in their 2nd or 3rd year, so they lack practical experience and skills in writing reports, presenting and summarizing results.
Students who participate in scientific research must also participate in classwork, so they are under pressure from both their studies and other activities, so their research time is not focused. In addition, some research requires many years to produce results, causing students to feel pressured to complete their research work.
Research in the field of chemistry is often the study of material fabrication, combined with analysis and evaluation of the properties of the fabricated material samples, which is quite expensive. Funding sources from governments, organizations and schools are limited or insufficient, especially for long-term projects or those involving high technology.
Dr. Viet received a certificate of merit at a competition. Photo: NVCC
Many schools and research institutes do not have enough modern equipment, so students participating in research must combine many places to conduct research, manufacture and evaluate manufactured materials. Along with that, the cost of publishing articles in prestigious international journals is high and requires a lot of data to achieve quality.
Similarly, Vietnamese scientists today also face many difficulties in terms of facilities, pressure to publish scientific publications, international cooperation and connection, lack of funding, lack of long-term support programs; lack of support personnel, interdisciplinary connection capacity; research results are not as expected, leading to waste of time and resources. Scientific research is also not fully valued or supported because some scientific research may not bring immediate results and economic efficiency and has not been implemented in practice.
With his passion, Mr. Viet continues to focus on product research and development, building production processes for products serving life such as combustion materials that reduce emissions, clean fuels, natural essential oils applied in human life, products that utilize agricultural by-products in Vietnam towards environmentally friendly materials that reduce waste and reduce the greenhouse effect for the earth...
Source: https://danviet.vn/thay-giao-chiet-tach-tinh-dau-va-vien-thanh-nen-tu-vo-cam-buoi-ap-u-doanh-nghiep-khoi-nghiep-20250203124948057.htm
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