Journals | Engineering

Front Cover Story (See: Jing Xu, Jiong Cheng, Runtian He, Jiaqi Lu, Chunling Wang, Heng Zhong, Fangming Jin, 2023, 17(10): 127)
The mitigation of anthropogenic GHG emissions is at the forefront of climate change research, and CO2 utilization emerges as a pivotal solution. Particularly, the Biomass-based CO2 Utilization (BCU) offers the allure of potential negative emissions. This investigation delves into the BCU with an iron cycle system (BCU-Fe), designed to transform CO2 into formate via Fe under hydrothermal conditions, and subsequently regenerate Fe using biomass-derived glycerin. A holistic evaluation of this system's GHG reduction potential is presented, employing a rigorous combination of experimental techniques, simulations, and an ex-ante life-cycle assessment. Preliminary results signify the BCU-Fe system could achieve substantial GHG emission reduction. With optimal yields of formate at 66% and Fe recovery at 80%, the system achieves a GHG reduction potential of −34.03 kg CO2-eq/kg absorbed CO2 (−2.44 kg CO2-eq/kg circulated Fe). The introduced ex-ante evaluation approach underscores the BCU-Fe system's promise in climate change mitigation, while also acting as a reference framework for the assessment of nascent carbon-neutral technologies.