“Towards Sustainable Energy and Materials: Creating a New Circular Carbon Economy via Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage”

ABSTRACT:

In order to meet the ever-increasing global energy demands while stabilizing the atmospheric CO₂ level, the development of carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies is one of the critical needs. In particular, there has been significant efforts to develop CO₂ capture solvents and some (e.g., amine-based aqueous solvents) have shown very promising results. Unfortunately, the energy requirement for the current aqueous solvent systems is still considered to be too high. Thus, efforts have been focused on the development of the next generation CO₂ capture materials, which are often water-free. Nanoparticle Organic Hybrid Materials (NOHMs) are a new class of organic-inorganic hybrids that consist of a hard nanoparticle core functionalized with a molecular organic corona that possesses a high degree of chemical and physical tunability. It has recently been discovered that NOHMs have interesting electrolyte properties which may allow the CO₂ capture to be pulled by the in-situ CO₂ conversion reactions. The development of these unique nanoscale hybrid materials will not only advance CO₂ capture materials design but also introduce unique research opportunities in various energy and environmental fields. This seminar will discuss the challenges and opportunities of different CO₂ capture and conversion pathways including Negative Emission Technologies (e.g., Direct Air Capture) that can allow the development of circular carbon and hydrogen economy using renewable energy.

BIOGRAPHY:

Ah-Hyung (Alissa) Park is the Lenfest Earth Institute Professor of Climate Change in the Departments of Earth and Environmental Engineering & Chemical Engineering at Columbia University. She is also the Director of the Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy. Her research focuses on sustainable energy and materials conversion pathways with emphasis on integrated Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) technologies. Park received a number of professional awards and honors including ACS ENFL Mid-Career Researcher Award (2022), U.S. C3E Research Award (2018), PSRI Lectureship Award at AIChE (2018), and NSF CAREER Award (2009). Park also led a number of global and national discussions on CCUS including the Mission Innovation Workshop in 2017. Park is a Fellow of AIChE, ACS, RSC and AAAS.