The science of clean soil: Dr. Sagyn Omirbekov’s fight against soil pollution

Dr. Omirbekov earned his PhD from RCMT ParisTech University, conducting research at the French Geological Survey (BRGM). His academic path took him through multiple projects in soil and aquifer remediation in France, followed by postdoctoral research at BRGM. In 2021, he joined Nazarbayev University, and by 2023, he had become a senior researcher, working on multiple international collaborations with partners in France, China, and the United States.

At the heart of his work is a project that tackles one of Kazakhstan's most pressing environmental issues: petroleum-contaminated soil.

“It's about the ingestion of microbubbles, which are colloidal gas aphrons, into the polluted soil. Usually the pollutants are diesel, like LNAPL, which is a light, non-aqueous phase liquid. Mostly it's petroleum products, because in Kazakhstan we extract a lot of oil, and of course, pollution of soil, this oil is unavoidable. We cannot avoid this pollution, and that's why developing this technology is very important,” he explained.

Dr. Omirbekov first became interested in this field during his master's studies at Lorraine University in France, where he completed an internship at BRGM.

“Before that, I didn't know about the remediation of soil and aquifers. During my master's studies, I had an opportunity to do an internship at the BRGM, which is a French Geological Survey. During this internship, I learned about these projects because people in France, also in developed countries, care more about the environment and ecology. Quality of soil and quality of water are very important. That's why it's kind of inspired me to study this topic, especially in Kazakhstan. It's very important because we are extracting a lot of raw materials, for example, petroleum products, and therefore, like the remediation of these petroleum products, polluted soil is very important. Because if you have a spill of oil or petroleum products in the soil, and after it is saturated in the water, the groundwater, then this water can be contaminated. This contamination can be dangerous for human beings, human health, also animal health and the environment. That's why I decided to work in this field, and this research is very important for humans, especially in Kazakhstan also,” he shared.

Now in its third year, the project is approaching a significant milestone: real-world implementation.

“In the first year, we developed our formulation. We did a lot of experiments with a microscope, also with a stability test. Because our solution should be very, very stable during injection, and that's why we did several tests in bulk form, also in porous media. We are now testing our solution in porous media, but in laboratory conditions. Hopefully this, maybe autumn or at the end of the year, we'll have some kind of agreement with a company that is located in the Mangistau region. We're going to implement our technology in the real field, which is supported by petroleum products,” Dr. Omirbekov said.

What makes the project unique is not only its local relevance but also its technical innovation.

“I didn't see such a kind of project in Kazakhstan because before people mostly focused on pollution of air or water mostly, but here we're also focusing on remediation kind of cleaning of soil, and the uniqueness is, I think, the development of a new fluid, which is a colloidal gas aphron, CGA, which has a very complex structure. This is the uniqueness of the project. The implementation of this project in the real field is also unique because most of the studies, for example, fundamental studies, suggest, for example, studies, mostly big and fundamental stuff, but implementation, for example, application, is very rare in Kazakhstan,” he highlights.

Looking ahead, Dr. Omirbekov plans to extend his work into new directions: “Now we are focusing on the pigmentation of soil. Of course, after extracting the pollutants from the soil, we will have wastewater. It means water with some contaminants inside. Afterwards, we need to also focus on treatment of this water waste. So, after this project, we're trying to switch to the next phase, which can be treatment of water, like remediation of water. Also, we can study in parallel different kinds of remediation fluids.”

His latest publication looks at how polymer flooding can affect sand production in unstable reservoirs using lab experiments and computer models based on sandstone similar to Kazakhstan’s oil fields. During the visit, Sagyn Omirbekov also demonstrated his experiment process to the Kazinform correspondent and introduced the members of his research team.

When asked what advice he would give to aspiring researchers, he spoke with honesty and encouragement.

“I think you need to love this work because the work of a science researcher is not easy. You need to be patient. You should wait. Sometimes you have a lot of failures in the experiments. If you are inspired, if you are motivated, if you like this field, I think people who want to come to this field can enjoy it. And also, it will be very, very beneficial for human beings,” Dr. Omirbekov said.

Earlier, Kazinform also shared an exclusive interview with Lunara Rakhymbay, a researcher at the Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Systems for Energy Storage at Nazarbayev University, where she discusses her research on developing cathode materials for sodium-ion batteries and energy storage.