FFSE-2024 Keynotes

The 4th Forum on Frontiers of Science and Engineering (FFSE)

Towards Interdisciplinary Sustainability Research (ISR)

Lingnan University, Hong Kong, July 21 - 22, 2024


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Keynote Presentation


Addressing Climate Change: Negative Emission based on AI-Driven Evolution of Advanced Materials

Xi Chen

Chair Professor and Dean, School of Interdisciplinary Studies

Director, Shenzhen Research Institute

Lingnan University

Abstract:

To address the global challenge of climate change and sustainability, revolutionary solutions are needed to develop highly efficient pathway for mitigating carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions. The “Holy Grail” is engineered removal of CO2 directly from the atmosphere, known as negative emission. Conventional carbon capture method developed for power and chemical plants does not work well for air capture, due to the very different CO2 concentration in flue gas and air. We present a disruptive approach of DAC (direct air capture of CO2), which is enabled by unconventional reverse chemical reaction driven by water quantities in nanopores. The humidity-swing system absorbs CO2 from the air when the surrounding is dry, whereas releases CO2 when wet. AI-driven material and system design is employed to significantly promote DAC capacity and efficiency, leading to perhaps the world’s cheapest solution of negative emission. The carbon loop is further closed by distributed and need-based capture of CO2 and various pathways of CO2 conversion, forming the technological roadmap of distributed carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration (distributed CCUS). The future prospects of engineering the carbon loop and grand cycles of sustainability are also discussed.

Biography:

Xi Chen is Chair Professor and Dean of the School of Interdisciplinary Studies at Lingnan University, and Director of Shenzhen Research Institute of Lingnan University. He received his M.S. from Tsinghua University, and Ph.D. in Solid Mechanics from Harvard University, and spent 20 years as a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering at Columbia University, before joining Lingnan in 2023. He received numerous awards including the NSF CAREER Award, the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), ASME Sia Nemat-Nasser Early Career Award, ASME Thomas J. R. Hughes Young Investigator Award, and SES Young Investigator Medal. He is a Fellow of ASME. He has published over 400 journal papers with a h-index over 70. He uses multiscale theoretical, experimental, and numerical approaches to investigate various research frontiers in engineering science addressing real-world challenges in energy, environment, nanotechnology and biology. He pioneered the scientific and technological framework of distributed carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration (distributed CCUS), and established Asia’s first direct air capture factory for carbon dioxide, and China’s first carbon negative industrial park zone.