Carbon Dioxide Capture and Utilization—Closing the Carbon Cycle

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Carbon Dioxide Capture and UtilizationClosing the Carbon Cycle

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State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310027, People’s Republic of China

he current global energy system is expected to rely on the combustion of fossil fuels in the foreseeable future. Therefore, technical solutions are needed to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuel combustion. The development and implementation of carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) is crucial to achieve the 1.5 °C target set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2018. Fundamental research related to novel chemical pathways, innovative materials, and their impact on energy production will shed substantial light on the critical role of CCUS technologies. The in-depth understanding of the myriad of chemical and physical interactions between CO2 and solid/liquid interfaces is a precursor to provide breakthroughs in advancing carbon capture technologies, particularly from increasingly dilute flue gas streams and directly from the air. CO2 conversion to produce useful materials and chemicals in an efficient manner will serve as the economic driver for utilizing CO2 emissions, which requires understanding and developing advanced materials and chemical processes. In June 2018, Zhejiang University and Columbia University co-organized the 6th International Conference on CO2 Emission Control and Utilization (ICCU) in China. This conference aimed to bring together the scientists, engineers, and technologists and provide a platform for discussing the basic research needs and critical breakthrough ideas needed in CO2 capture and utilization. The topics of the conference included CO2 separation using solvents, sorbents, membranes, and other combustion technologies, thermochemical, electrochemical, and photochemical conversion of CO2, and integrated CO2 capture, conversion, and storage technologies, including mineralization. The conference attracted 215 participants from 10 countries and regions. The main topics were highlighted by 6 plenary lectures and 32 keynotes, given by recognized invited speakers. The total of selected contributions was 135; from those, 70 were presented in the form of oral communications and 65 were presented as posters. Fruitful discussions, new ideas, and international collaboration projects between specialists from the various fields have naturally emerged from the conference. This special issue includes a selection of papers, encompassing molecular and process-scale modeling, novel material development, and process integration. These works highlight the technological development and future opportunities as well as the current status of the chemical processes to deal with the global climate issue. We believe that this special issue will be of great value to engineers, scientists, and decision makers working in academia, industry, and government. We thank the Energy & Fuels Editor-in-Chief for giving 6th ICCU participants this opportunity and facilitating the reviewing process of the submitted papers. The papers accepted for publication in this special issue were selected following the traditional high-standard reviewing process of the journal.

Ah-Hyung Alissa Park, Conference Chair Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, and Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy, Columbia University, New York City, New York 10027, United States

Yixiang Shi, Guest Editor Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Thermal Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People’s Republic of China

Greeshma Gadikota, Guest Editor

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Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Environmental Chemistry and Technology Program, Geological Engineering Program, Grainger Institute for Engineering, University of WisconsinMadison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, United States

AUTHOR INFORMATION

ORCID

Tao Wang: 0000-0002-0535-7821 Notes

Views expressed in this editorial are those of the authors and not necessarily the views of the ACS.

Special Issue: Carbon Dioxide Capture and Utilization - Closing the Carbon Cycle

Tao Wang, Guest Editor © XXXX American Chemical Society

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DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.8b04502 Energy Fuels XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX