I was born on the 26th of January 1948 in the village Vilshka, Brusyliv district, Zhytomyr region, in a peasant house, which was build by my grandfather Mykyta in 1944-1945 from the wood of German dugouts. This small house took the place of a good house, which was burnt by SS men in 1943 during terrible, hard fightings after the liberation of Kyiv. My father could not build at that time because he was in the army since September 1940, then he was in captivity and again in the army; he returned to the native village as late as at the end of 1946. Vilshka is the dearest place on earth for me; my navel-string was buried there, my childhood passed there, everything was great and good there, kind and happy people lived there, I was simply well liked there. I am happy now as well when I return there in my dreams.
I went to primary school in Vilshka (1955-1959), eight-year school in Khomutets (1959-1963), secondary polytechnic school No. 140 in Kyiv (1963-1966), studied at the chemistry faculty of the T.G. Shevchenko State University of Kyiv (1966-1971), from which graduated with honors with the speciality “inorganic chemistry”. In 1974-1978, studied at the post-graduate course at the Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry. During the study at the University, earned additionally in the radiation building of the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Ukrainian SSR Academy of Sciences and later at the Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry of the Ukrainian SSR Academy of Sciences.
I work since 01.09.1970 at the V.I. Vernadskii Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry of the Ukrainian NAS. I worked at the Institute as engineer, senior engineer, leading engineer, junior research assistant at the departments of the electrochemistry of molten salts, molten salt electrolysis (electrorefining of metals and metalloids). Academic secretary of the department since 1979, was the secretary of the sector “Electrochemistry” for a long time (1992-2004).
A skilled researcher in the field of molten salt electrolysis. Has carried out research works on the development of the theory and technique of electrotransfer of metals from cathode to anode, electrolysis of hydrated melts, cleaning of metal surfaces, refining of heavy nonferrous metals in ionic melts. Based on research results, over 75 works, including 22 USSR inventor’s certificates, two Ukrainian patents and one bibliography have been published in co-authorship. An important scientific achievement was the proposed method of supersaturated steam injection into the melt. This method, which contradicted at the first glance the then known canons of conducting technological processes, gave in some cases a significant effect, especially in processes for hydrogen production from the waste steam of nuclear stations.
Took direct part in the introduction at enterprises of the USSR and Ukraine of technological developments for indium refining in molten salts, processing of complex products of tin industry, electropolishing of stainless steels in a chromium-free electrolyte, silver plating. The carried out research contributed to the improvement of these technologies.
Production necessity allowed me to visit various enterprises in many places of the Soviet Union: Moscow, Leningrad, Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn, Tbilisi, Tashkent, Alma-Ata, Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk, Vladikavkaz (Ordzhonikidze), Ust Kamenogorsk, Podolsk, Kharkov, Izyum, Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhya, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kostyantynivka, Svitlovodsk. There trips compensated to some extent for the not very large salary at the academic institute and allowed me to meet many prominent specialists and simply interesting people.
One of the authors and executors of three STCU projects:
- No. 294: Choice and investigation of fuel and structural materials of systems with liquid-salt blankets for the accelerator-controlled conversion of plutonium and nuclear transmutation of radioactive wastes (01.03.2003-29.02.2004);
- No. 1993: Working out of the scientific foundations of the electrochemical radiological decontamination of metal surfaces (01.04.2002-30.09.2004);
- No. 4129: Preparation, making and testing of prototypes of equipment for the radiological decontamination of basic equipment (01.02.2007-01.02.2009).
Persons who were on the same course as I and with whom I worked at the same department: Galina Dibkova, Ihor Vlasenko, Nadiya Lyfar.
Graduates from the Chemistry Department of the State University of Kyiv with whom I worked at the same department: Borys Dmytruk, Anatolii Omelchuk, Petro Korol, Volodymyr Melyokhin, Hennadii Myronyuk, Nina Babych, Volodymyr Orel, Anatolii Bostan.
The main works:
- Yu.K. Delimarskii, O.H. Zarubytskyi, M.F. Zakharchenko and V.H. Budnyk, Cathodic dissolution and anodic deposition of lead in molten sodium hydroxide, DAN USSR. Ser. B, No. 3, p. 233-235 (1972).
- Zarubitskii O.G., Zakharchenko N.F. Bismuth Deposition on the Anode in Electrolysis of Fused Hydroxide // Bulletin Bismuth Institute. – Bruxelles: – 1978. – No. 21. – P. 5–8.
- O.H. Zarubytskyi, M.F. Zakharchenko, B.F. Dmitruk, Refining of metals in hydrated alkaline melts, Ionic Melts and Solid Electrolytes, issue 5, p. 16-29 (1990).
- Omelchuk А.А., Zarubitskii О.G., Opanasyuk V.P., Zakharchenko N.F., D'yakov V.Ye. Behaviour of multicomponent lead–tin alloys at cathodic polarization in a sodium hydroxide melt // Journal Applied Electrochemistry. – 2003. – V.33, No. 6. – P. 519–524.
- Zarubitskii O.G, Omelchuk A.A., Dmitruk B.F., Zakharchenko N.F., Dyachenko O.V. Electrochemical technologies and processes in ionic melts // Proceedings of 7th International Symposium on Molten Salts Chemistry & Technology – "MS7" (29 August – 02 September 2005, Toulouse, France). – Toulouse, 2005. – P.113–116.
- Oleh Hryhorovych Zarubytskyi, bibliography, compiled by M.F. Zakharchenko, edited by A.O. Omelchuk, Akademperiodyka Publishers (182 pages, 24 pages of figures), Kyiv (2006).
- I.N. Yudenkova, A.O. Omelchuk, V.N. Shevel, N.F. Zakharchenko, Electrochemical radiological decontamination of metal surfaces, XVIIth International Conference on the Physics of Radiation Phenomena and the Radiative Study of Materials (September4-9, 2006, Alushta, Crimea, Ukraine): proceedings, industrial enterprise “Talant-Trading”, Kharkov (2006), p. 231.
- O.G. Zarubitskii, Yu.K. Delimarskii, A.V. Gorodyskii and N.F. Zakharchenko USSR inventor’s certificate 701178, IPC C 25 C 3/34, Method for the electrolytic separation of lead bismuthide, IGIC, No. 2610343/22-02, filed 25.04.1978, registered 06.08.1979, published 15.10.1984, bulletin No. 38 (p. 196).
- Kozin L.F., Hansen S.C., Zakharchenko N.F. and Gray J. Environmental Aspects of the Industrial Application of Mercury // In Mercury Handbook: Chemistry, Applications and Environmental Impact by Kozin L.F., Hansen S.C. – Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry, 2013. – P. 209-227.
- Kozin L.F., Hansen S.C., Zakharchenko N.F. Demercurization Processes in Different Sectors of Industry // In Mercury Handbook: Chemistry, Applications and Environmental Impact by Kozin L.F., Hansen S.C. – Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry, 2013. – P. 228-240.
Marital status: married. Wife: Tetyana Semenivna Zakharchenko, born in 1948, former classmate, she is a pensioner now, is occupied with housekeeping. We have three children: the sons Serhii (born in 1971) and Yurii (born 1977) and the daughter Olya (born in 1980). The son Serhii graduated from the electronics and marketing faculties of the National Technical University of Ukraine (KPI) (1996); he is Doctor of Technical Sciences (2015), leading research assistant at the Institute of Electrodynamics of the Ukrainian NAS. The daughter Olya is a graduate from the journalism faculty of the National University “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”, worked as a PR manager at a number of well-known companies and foundations. Now she is a communications manager at the Public Health Center of the Ukrainian Ministry of Public Health.
Official awards:
- Medal of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, “In memory of the 1000th anniversary of Kyiv” (1983).
- Certificate of honor of the Supreme Rada of Ukraine (2004).