Special Issue on Advancing Thermochemical, Catalytic, and Hybrid Technologies for a Circular Carbon Economy

Introduction

The global push toward net-zero emissions have intensified the need for technologies that convert heterogeneous carbon-containing feedstocks, including lignocellulosic biomass, municipal solid waste, plastics, sewage sludge, microalgae, as well as captured carbon dioxide into fuels, chemicals, and advanced carbon materials. While individual conversion routes such as pyrolysis, gasification, hydrothermal processing, fermentation, electrocatalysis have matured considerably, the next leap in efficiency and carbon-intensity reduction lies in integrated and hybrid process configurations. This requires coupling thermochemical platforms with catalytic upgrading, pairing biological pretreatment with electrochemical finishing, and embedding CO₂ capture and utilization within existing conversion trains.

This special issue invites contributions that go beyond single-step demonstrations toward integrated pathways, supported by rigorous characterization, advanced catalyst design, process intensification, and sustainability assessment.

Submissions are welcomed within, but not limited to, the following themes, with each mapping to the journal's established technical categories:

• Feedstock characterization and pretreatment strategies for mixed and contaminated waste streams, including plastic-biomass blends, sewage sludge, and end-of-life composites, with emphasis on rapid analytical techniques and machine-learning-assisted property prediction.
• Advanced thermochemical conversion, covering co-pyrolysis and co-gasification of biomass with plastics or coal, hydrothermal liquefaction and carbonization of wet wastes, chemical looping combustion and gasification, and microwave- or plasma-assisted routes.
• Biological conversion pathways including anaerobic digestion intensification, dark and photo-fermentation for hydrogen, microbial electrosynthesis, and integrated algal biorefineries for simultaneous CO₂ fixation and biofuel production.
• Electrochemical conversion of CO₂, biomass-derived platform molecules, and waste-derived intermediates into fuels and value-added chemicals, including electrode and membrane innovations.
• Catalysis in conversion, with focus on tailored heterogeneous catalysts (zeolites, MOFs, single-atom catalysts, transition-metal carbides) for bio-oil upgrading, syngas-to-chemicals routes, plastic depolymerization, and CO₂ hydrogenation.
• Carbon materials derived from waste and biomass, such as biochar, activated carbons, graphene analogues, and hard carbons for energy storage, soil amendment, and pollutant adsorption.
• Environmental remedies, addressing emissions control during conversion, tar and ash management, removal of heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants, and valorization of conversion residues.
• Process technologies and systems integration, including reactor design and scale-up, digital twins, real-time monitoring and control, techno-economic and life-cycle assessments, and policy-relevant analyses of circular carbon supply chains.

Important Deadline

Submission deadline: 30 June 2027

Submission Instructions

The “Advancing Thermochemical, Catalytic, and Hybrid Technologies for a Circular Carbon Economy” Special Issue Editor Team invites original research and review articles that align with the scope outlined above.

Please carefully read and follow the Guide for Authors at: https://www.keaipublishing.com/en/journals/carbon-resources-conversion/guide-for-authors/

Before submitting paper, please create a user account and submit all relevant files online at: https://www.editorialmanager.com/crconv

When submitting manuscript online, please select the “VSI: Thermochem-Catal-CCE” in the Editorial Manager system (https://www.editorialmanager.com/crconv), then proceed with the submission.

Guest Editors

• Dr. Salman Raza Naqvi, Associate Professor, Department of Engineering and Chemical Sciences, Karlstad University, Sweden. Email: salman.raza.naqvi@kau.se
• Prof. Dr. Ningbo Gao, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, China. Email: nbogao@xjtu.edu.cn