Under China's unwavering commitment to carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals—aligned with building a global community of shared future—a pivotal policy shift will transition "dual controls" from energy consumption to carbon emissions by 2026, establishing a paradigm for global climate governance. Despite rapid expansion of solar and wind power, fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) still dominate China’s energy structure at 80%, necessitating breakthrough technologies for efficient and low-carbon utilization of fossil resources. This presentation will introduce our laboratory’s innovations in green fossil conversion: high-temperature plasma-enabled direct coal-to-acetylene production; single-step conversion of coal-derived syngas to lower olefins, bypassing the traditional Fischer-Tropsch synthesis route with high water consumption and high emissions;; catalytic transformation of natural gas to lower olefins and aromatics; and carbon looping systems via high-temperature electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction for circular coal chemistry—collectively addressing decarbonization challenges during energy transition.

In the context of China's unique resource endowment and immense energy demand, CCUS is a key technology for achieving near-zero emissions from fossil fuels, ensuring the energy security while advancing carbon neutrality goals. CO₂ geological storage in deep saline aquifer has gained significant attention due to its vast potential. However, it faces challenges such as difficulties in site selection, low injection capacity, and insufficient safety. The geology of China’s deep saline aquifers is complex, and their strong heterogeneity results in large errors in sequestration capacity assessments, limited injection capacity, and high monitoring costs, all of which hinder the commercialization of the technology. This talk will be focused on site selection, injection, and monitoring, achieving the following progress: 1) developing a CO₂ geological storage site selection technology system suitable for China’s heterogeneous deep saline aquifers; 2) developing an internationally leading multi-scale experimental platform for CO₂ injection and migration and establishing a preliminary engineering technology system; 3) developing a low-cost, multi-parameter joint monitoring system covering surface, wellbore, and subsurface monitoring; 4) independently developing numerical simulation software for CO₂ storage migration and an integrated intelligent decision-making platform for CO₂ geological storage. These achievements provide technical support for China’s carbon geological storage projects, promoting the large-scale application of site selection, injection, and monitoring technologies, and ensuring progress towards carbon neutrality goals.

As hydrogen emerges as a pivotal clean energy carrier, understanding the thermophysical properties and behaviors of high-pressure hydrogen mixtures is critical for safe and efficient storage, transport, and utilization. This plenary lecture presents a comprehensive study on the thermophysical characterization and process analysis of high-pressure hydrogen-containing mixtures, which is critical in hydrogen infrastructure development.In the first part, the thermophysical properties of high-pressure hydrogen mixtures are systematically investigated. The homogeneity of the hydrogen-containing mixtures is validated via thermodynamic calculations of compressibility, phase equilibria, and critical points. The PVT (pressure-volume-temperature) property is measured under varying compositions and pressures, and a virial equation of state is developed based on the PVT data. Subsequently, the viscosity and thermal conductivity of these mixtures are evaluated, with emphasis on the impact of impurities (CH₄, CO₂, etc.) and chemical reactions under high-temperature conditions. A thermophysical property database is established for hydrogen and hydrogen-containing mixtures, providing essential data for system design.In the second part, critical thermophysical processes are characterized and analyzed to assess operational risks and efficiency. The jet flow characteristics of high-pressure hydrogen mixtures through orifices are measured and modeled to quantify leakage dynamics and dispersion. Permeation mechanisms in storage tanks are analyzed, considering material compatibility and pressure effects. Additionally, the influence of thermal radiation on mixture stability in storage tanks is evaluated, addressing safety concerns under abnormal fire outbreaks.The lecture will summarize the original innovations on principle, methodology, and apparatuses and recommend for future work in hydrogen mixture standardization and risk mitigation. This lecture bridges fundamental thermophysical insights with practical applications, offering actionable guidelines for hydrogen infrastructure optimization. The findings contribute to the safe scaling of hydrogen technologies, supporting global carbon neutrality goals.

This paper provides a comprehensive review of the research progress in China's energy storage technology. By reviewing and analyzing fundamental study, technical research, and integrated demonstration, the major technological advancements in China's recent energy storage field are summarized. A comprehensive analysis indicates that China's energy storage sector has experienced a rapid development, with significant achievements made in fundamental research, key technologies, and integrated demonstrations. China is now the most active country globally in all the three fields of fundamental research, technology development, and integrated demonstrations in energy storage. Moreover, the installed power of new energy storage technologies has surpassed that of pumped hydro storage for the first time, marking a historic milestone.

Global goals of providing ‘clean drinking water for all’ increasingly brings challenges for curtailing carbon emissions. In the context of climate change, there are growing issues around source water contamination including elevated concentrations of manganese, taste-and-odour, harmful algal blooms as well as a range of emerging contaminants such as PFAS, plastics, pharmaceutical and viruses. This paper will focus on the growing global issue of elevated dissolved manganese levels in shallow surface drinking water sources. Manganese at low concentrations is an essential element for all living organisms but excessive concentrations in drinking water pose a risk to human health. It affects cognitive function and the central nervous system, and is linked to manganism in adults and a reduction in IQ levels in children. There is growing recognition that manganese in drinking water is becoming a pressing global problem, affecting countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, Canada, China, Germany, Korea, UK, US among others. High concentrations are not only found in groundwater but in surface waters, where rapid seasonally related increases can overwhelm water treatment systems and result in impaired tap water for the consumer. Moreover, where lead pipes remain in distribution systems, high dissolved manganese concentrations has also been linked with enhanced lead release, providing an additional neurological risk to health. Particle releases from manganese deposits within distribution systems have also been implicated in virus release. There is a clear need for effective water treatment methods to protect human health but these must be balanced against there likely efficacy under ambient conditions within natural systems and the potentially considerable carbon (energy, chemicals, infrastructure) costs. Current water treatment approaches include filtration (e.g. reverse osmosis) and oxidation (e.g. ozonation, permanganate) or in-situ methods such as hypolimnetic oxygenation (HOx; e.g bubble curtains) and reservoir mixing (e.g. ResMix). This paper will review the processes underpinning the solubilisation of manganese in shallow surface drinking water sources and their impacts upon the costs and effectiveness of manganese removal approaches.

A key strategy for realizing a plus-energy building, beyond the net-zero energy building, is to utilize renewable energy sources such that the amount of generated energy exceeds the energy consumed. Due to the mismatch between energy supply and demand, the application of a high-performance energy storage system is essential for the effective utilization of renewable energy. Additionally, minimizing unavoidable energy consumption within buildings is also important. Among such energy loads, ventilation plays a vital role in maintaining comfortable indoor air quality, particularly by regulating indoor CO₂ concentrations. Accordingly, this study introduces two key technologies of plus energy building: adsorption-driven sorption thermal battery (STB), and a CO₂ capture-integrated energy recovery ventilation (CERV) system. First, the STB stores thermal energy by utilizing renewable sources (e.g., solar energy) during off-peak periods and discharges it whenever thermal loads exist. It operates via a reversible solid–gas reaction, storing energy as chemical potential without losses. During the charging process, the sorbate acquires sufficient momentum to overcome the binding forces with the sorbent, resulting in phase separation and energy storage. Conversely, discharging occurs when the sorbate undergoes a phase change upon re-contact with the sorbent, releasing heat for practical use. This form of thermal storage eliminates the need for thermal insulation and allows for compact systems with high energy storage density. To enhance system-level performance, this study proposes and validates a generalized optimization methodology for STB reactor employing a LiOH-impregnated zeolite 13X (LiOH@Z-13X) composite adsorbent. A lab-scale STB system is constructed, and dynamic simulations are performed using a simplified breakthrough curve model to identify key operating parameters. Combined with material characterization, the effects of operating conditions are experimentally investigated to optimize performance at both the particle and reactor levels. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the reactor-scale performance of an STB using a LiOH@Z-13X composite, bridging the gap between material-scale properties and system-scale applications. The breakthrough curve approach enables a comprehensive assessment of key factors such as packing density, reactor length, vapor concentration, and flow rate. These variables are unified into a dimensionless moisture-adsorption distance (ξ), allowing for generalized prediction of system performance. Model predictions are experimentally validated, and optimal operating conditions are identified to achieve desired thermal output. The optimal operating range is determined to be ξ = 0.105-0.118, achieving a maximum system-level ESD of 188.4 kWh m^-3, which represents a 38 % improvement compared to 136.3 kWh m^-3 at ξ= 0.038. Furthermore, a high-performance STB system must not only exhibit high energy density but also ensure stable thermal output. To this end, a novel adaptive vapor flux regulation strategy is developed and experimentally validated to mitigate thermal attenuation. Under identical operating conditions, the application of adaptive flux control extended the stable heat output duration from 80 minutes (in constant flux mode) to 226 minutes. These results provide practical insights for the real-world deployment of high-performance STB systems. Next, to address the lack of conventional indoor CO₂ control technologies, this study further proposes a novel CO₂ capture-integrated energy recovery ventilation (CERV) system that incorporates a high-performance CO₂ filter, enabling continuous indoor CO₂ removal while reducing ventilation-related energy consumption. An amine-functionalized sorbent is developed and characterized, and its durability is evaluated under repeated adsorption–desorption cycles to confirm its applicability in indoor environments. Sorbent performance is quantified and integrated into a CO₂ concentration-based feedback control algorithm to assess its impact on CO₂ reduction and ventilation energy savings. Simulation-based evaluations under varying indoor conditions revealed that, under optimal control strategies, the proposed system reduced annual heating and cooling loads by 52.6% and 27.9%, respectively, compared to a conventional ERV system. In parallel with this ventilation load reduction strategy, the study further explores a novel direction by developing a lab-scale prototype CO₂ capture filter and evaluating its performance under realistic indoor conditions, thereby assessing the practical feasibility of its indoor implementation.