Russian scientists and engineers are working on fuel cells and related technologies based on their huge scientific accumulation inherited from Soviet era. This paper introduces their activities which have not been fully transmitted to the world so far. R&D's in many Russian research institutes and universities range over electrolyte catalysts, membrane materials, carbon carrier, natural gas reformers, fuel cell systems, hydrogen adsorbent, etc. Research funds are being supplied mainly via International Research and Technology Centre and Norilsk Nickel.

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This study is devoted to elucidating experimentally the co-gasification characteristics of sewage sludge with a kind of other high calorific fuels such as plastic waste and to evaluating the possible energy effi-ciency when applying the gas to a power generation system. By varying air ratio, air temperature and the type of high caloric fuel, experiment was first conducted in a laboratory atmospheric bubbling fluidized bed gasifier to investigate the conditions necessary to maintain the product gas to have caloric values of about 1500kcal/m³N. It was found that the air ratio should be between 0.3 and 0.4, and the use of plastic fuel, compared to coal, is more reliable to achieve the desired caloric values of product gas. Based on these experimental results, a further evaluation with respect to an energy system consisting of gasification and power generation turbines demonstrated that the available power efficiency could be higher than 20% in a bottoming cycle with the use of both gas engine and steam turbines. The corresponding operating condi-tions for the gasifier were that the air ratio was approximately 0.3 and the air itself had to be preheated to 723K.

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Barren grounds are increasing along the coast of Japan and all over the world. Kelp and other useful large seaweeds are depleted in barren ground as rocky beds become covered with small algae called crus-tose coralline algae whose main constituent is calcium carbonate. There are a number of different factors responsible for barren ground, including changes in the environment such as elevation of water tempera-tures and grazing by sea urchins. However, the lack of iron (ferrous ions) is thought to be another factor of barren ground, particularly in the coast of Japan Sea in Hokkaido. The effect of iron for recovering from barren ground was evaluated in this study. We utilized slugs and composts including humic substances (HSs) as iron supplier in seawater, and complex formation of iron with humic substances was examined. At first, the amount of irons emitted from slugs was investigated and it was confirmed that iron-humate could be produced by mixing humic substances and ferrous ions. Next, mixtures of slugs and composts including HS were supplied to a barren ground in shallow water in Hokkaido, in order to investigate the effect of irons for recovering from barren ground. It was indicated that supplying irons resulted in establishing kelp bed significantly.

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