site.btaToms Hrant Dersarkissian in BTA Interview: About the New Life of Old Solar Panels and Car Batteries


An inventor with 50 years of work in the field of industrial property, Toms Hrant Dersarkissian can tell you all about his pioneering project for industrial gold production during sand mining decades ago, to the current innovative methods for the utilization of spent solar panels and old batteries. He is the holder and co-holder of 14 copyright certificates, three patents for inventions and ten utility models in the field of automation and mechanical engineering in the mining industry.
He received a General Contribution to Industrial Property Award from the Bulgarian Patent Office.
BTA found Toms Hrant Dersarkissian in the lab where he works on several innovative projects.
"If we talk only about the recent years, we have about five or six projects in the field of extraction of materials from waste, in the field of nanotechnology, of environmental protection, in the utilization of waste products to obtain soil mixtures for reclamation of land damaged by human activity," he explains.
He adds that his team is also working on issues related to the grinding of glass waste that is not used by the glass industry, as well as glass or mineral wool waste that is transformed into a product with market value.
In addition, they are working on problems related to the milling of glass waste not used by the glass industry, end-of-life glass waste, and glass wool or mineral wool waste that is ground simultaneously and converted into a product that has commercial value.
"This is the so-called circular economy or closed economy, to be able to recycle certain waste products from industrial and other types of human activity, into other industrial areas. That is the essence of the circular economy. For example, from the waste glass, from the end-of-life waste glass, we have plans to produce six different grain size products, which will have six or seven commercial uses. The two or three years of research we have spent on this project have been very encouraging and we already have preliminary demand for these types of products and a plant is being built with a view to being operational sometime around April next year," says he.
The plant is being built on the campus of the Zebra factory in the town of Novi Iskar, some 25 km from Sofia. "Some of the equipment has been delivered there and is about to be installed. In April or early May we will have products."
Asked about his career under socialism, he remembers working for what was called State Economic Union for Inert Materials and designing a system for co-production of gold in the extraction of river deposits. "For nearly two years we supplied the then Georgi Damyanov plant, today's Aurubis, with about 12 kg of gold."
Innovations from his over 50 years of work have been implemented in Germany, the Republic of North Macedonia, Ukraine and Bulgaria.
Currently, the inventor has his efforts focused on a project for spent solar panels and on another one that breathes "new life" into old car batteries.
"At the moment we are working hardest on solar panels, and results are expected by the end of December, as well as one commission plus another one for a utility model. Once all the lab tests are completed and a report is prepared, then we will scale up the work for producing industrial models and make an invention application," says Toms Hrant Dersarkissian.
The other project is for desulphatization of old car batteries that have been spent and are no longer of any interest, to be used for storage of energy from solar or other renewable sources. "We have solar energy, evidently, during the day but in the evening we don't, but if we have such energy stored, it can be used 24 hours," he says.
Asked is it is only his company doing all this, he says: "Not just our company: quote the contrary. I always work with a team and I have young people around me, which gives me extra courage and zest to work with a team. And the people around me, really, are at a good technical, intellectual and information level, and it is a joy to work in such company. Even here, where we are now, there is a small team that we work with on other tasks but it is still early days to tell you about it."
Toms Hrant Dersarkissian is an inventor with 50 years of work in the field of industrial property. He is the holder and co-holder of 14 copyright certificates, three patents for inventions and ten utility models in the field of automation and mechanical engineering in the mining industry.
His innovations have been implemented in Germany, the Republic of North Macedonia, Ukraine and Bulgaria. Currently, the inventor has his efforts focused on a project for spent solar panels and on another one that breathes "new life" into old batteries.
The innovative technologies and machines patented and developed by him and teams he has been part of, have had proven economic impact. They are used in various productions and companies in Bulgaria. He is the inventor of the pioneering technology for production of industrial gold during sand mining. He developed and implemented projects related to technologies for processing of mineral and other raw materials for various productions.
His publication on desorption using modified electrical discharges in a liquid medium has turned out to be one of the best in the world.
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