Special Issue on Advanced Green Solvents for Low-Carbon Chemical Processes

Introduction:

With an annual global consumption exceeding 20 million tonnes, solvents are essential across pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals, biomass conversion, electrochemistry, and materials processing. Conventional solvents, however, are predominantly derived from fossil feedstocks—e.g., petroleum-based aprotic amides (DMF, NMP) and volatile hydrocarbons (toluene, hexane)—and pose severe risks to human health, ecological systems, and occupational safety. Moreover, their production and disposal contribute substantially to the carbon footprint of chemical manufacturing.

In response to net-zero and circular-economy imperatives, advanced green solvents—including bio‑based options (e.g., 2‑MeTHF, levulinic esters, terpenes), ionic liquids, deep eutectic solvents, switchable solvents, supercritical fluids, and aqueous biphasic systems—offer a promising route towards low‑carbon processes. These next‑generation media can reduce process energy demand via tunable properties, facilitate efficient product separation and solvent recycling, and integrate smoothly with biocatalytic, electrocatalytic, photocatalytic, and thermochemical conversion of renewable feedstocks. Life‑cycle assessment and techno‑economic analysis further provide critical metrics to validate their environmental benefits and industrial scalability.

This Special Issue aligns with Green Carbon's core themes of carbon‑utilisation technologies, lifecycle management, and low‑/zero‑/negative‑carbon pathways. It will feature both t invites cutting‑edge fundamental and applied research on the rational design, physicochemical characterisation, and practical deployment of green solvent systems that effectively minimise CO₂ emissions and promote sustainable chemical manufacturing.

Topics covered include but are not limited to:

• Molecular design, synthesis, and structure–property relationships of bio-based and renewable-carbon-derived green solvents
• Ionic liquids, deep eutectic solvents, and novel eutectic mixtures for green chemical transformations and separations
• Supercritical fluids, switchable solvents, and aqueous/organic alternative solvent systems in catalysis and biocatalysis
• Green solvent-enabled reaction engineering: enhanced selectivity, yield, and energy efficiency in C─C bond formation, biomass depolymerization, CO₂/CO activation, and electro/photocatalytic conversions
• Green solvents in sustainable separation processes (liquid–liquid extraction, azeotrope-breaking, adsorption-assisted recovery, membrane-based separations) and integrated reaction–separation schemes
• Application of green solvents in electrolyte formulation for electrochemical energy conversion/storage and in polymer/nanomaterial processing
• Life cycle assessment (LCA), carbon footprint analysis, and techno-economic evaluation of green solvent implementation
• Solvent recovery, recycling strategies, and circular solvent management for industrial decarbonization

Important Deadlines: 

Submission deadline: 2027.05.31

Submission Instructions:

The issue accepts articles with Research, Review, Perspective. Multidisciplinary contributions are encouraged. The papers included in the special issue will go through the journal’s standard peer review process. Please read the [Guide for Authors] before submitting. All articles should be [submitted online], please select [VSI: Advanced Green Solvents for Low-Carbon Chemical Processes] on submission.

Guest Editors: