(Correspondent: Letian Zhang)
On December 4, 2025, the Fluidized Bed and Biomass Group successfully held the second "Clean Energy Forum" of the 2025 autumn season in the atrium meeting room on the 12th floor of the Clean Energy Building. Professor Shao Jing'ai and Postdoctoral Researcher Zhong Dian hosted the forum. It specially invited Professor Lam Su Shiung from the University of Malaysia Terengganu to deliver an invited report. It featured several outstanding young researchers from the research group presenting their scientific progress reports. This forum served as a platform for multiple excellent young scholars to share their latest research achievements in the field of innovative technologies for energy and materials production, bringing new insights into the future development of clean energy and resource-efficient utilization.
Professor Lam Su Shiung from the University of Malaysia Terengganu has presented a report titled “From Waste to Wealth: Scaling Microwave-Assisted Pyrolysis Towards Net-Zero and Commercialization”. Focusing on the microwave-assisted pyrolysis process, Professor Lam discussed the application prospects of biomass and other waste resources for high-value utilization. By introducing the characteristics of this process, he demonstrated its advantages over traditional electric heating methods. Microwave heating can efficiently convert biomass and waste into high-quality diesel-like fuels, superior biochar, and activated carbon, offering a sustainable and innovative solution for waste valorization and energy production. This technology has positive implications both environmentally and economically, including reducing waste accumulation, lowering greenhouse gas emissions, and supporting the development of a circular economy by transforming waste into valuable resources. It paves a practical path for the high-value utilization of waste resources. Furthermore, through life cycle assessment and scale-up research prospects, the directions for implementing this technology were clarified. This technology not only promotes the efficient recycling of waste resources but also holds significant practical value in contributing to the achievement of carbon neutrality goals.
Postdoctoral Researcher Dr. Ahmed Fodah reported his work titled as “Microwave pyrolysis of biomass for co-production of hydrogen-rich gas and high-value chemicals: an integreted approach with anaerobic digestion digestate”. He first reported the main differences between conventional and microwave pyrolysis, presenting a systematic comparison across different biomass feedstocks under various conditions. Then he investigated the strategy for integrating anaerobic digestion with microwave pyrolysis to advance the application of biomass materials for the co-production of hydrogen-rich gas and hydrocarbon-rich bio-oil. This could promote the development and utilization of the biomass and meet the requirements for sustainable CO2 reduction. He primarily focused on producing biogas and digestate from anaerobic digestion. The resulting digestate was co-pyrolyzed with other biomass feedstock under microwave pyrolysis. Then he investigated the systematic effects of various catalytic materials on the catalytic upgrading of bio-oil and gas. He analyzed the energy recovery and energy balance from the process under different conditions. Finally, he established a multi-factor optimization of the process to explore optimal conditions for the target products. This provides a reference for integrating anaerobic digestion with microwave pyrolysis to enhance the co-production of H2-rich gas and hydrocarbon-rich bio-oil.
Ph.D. candidate Xu Huaqian has reported under the title "Application of anisotropic thermal conductive materials in molten salt phase change packed bed": To advance the application of anisotropic materials for enhancing heat transfer acceleration in latent heat packed bed thermal energy storage, promote the development and utilization of energy storage technologies, and balance the supply and demand of thermal energy. He primarily focused on the preparation of anisotropic materials and the enhancement of the latent heat bed layer, investigating the correlation mechanism between material preparation and bed layer enhancement. Emphasis was placed on analyzing the influence of anisotropic arrangement forms, coupling methods, and placement positions on the overall bed performance. For vertically packed beds, it was determined that arranging the direction of high thermal conductivity horizontally is the most effective filling method. The reason is that horizontal distribution can effectively improve the heat transfer rate between the bed and the device. Furthermore, by analyzing the effectiveness of heat storage-related processes such as outlet temperature, thermocline distribution, and heat transfer rate, it was found that distribution along the downstream flow direction can effectively enhance device performance, and this performance increases with the filling ratio. This research provides new ideas and references for the efficient enhancement of packed beds with limited materials.
Ph.D. candidate Cao Yuwei has reported under the title "Optimizing Centralized Offshore-Wind-Powered Alkaline Electrolysis under an Integrated Power-Hydrogen-Heat Modeling Framework". Integrating offshore wind power with hydrogen energy can reduce its impact on the grid and offer significant environmental benefits. However, the planning and operation design of the coupled system under multidimensional constraints of variable operating conditions is a technical challenge. She analyzed and numerically simulated the electricity-hydrogen-heat flow and water cycle of a centralized hydrogen production system powered by grid-connected offshore wind. A hydrogen production system scheme considering waste heat recovery, thermal energy storage, and electrical energy storage was constructed, and an electricity-hydrogen-heat collaborative optimization modeling method was proposed. The multi-electrolyzer power allocation method designed in the study can fully utilize the fluctuating wind power resources, improving wind energy utilization under unstable wind conditions. The configured electrical energy storage can effectively reduce the fluctuation of hydrogen production power, decrease the start-stop frequency of electrolyzers, and enhance hydrogen production and efficiency. The heat recovery and thermal storage system enables stable temperature control, avoiding frequent cold starts of the electrolyzers. This model balances simulation accuracy and efficiency and can serve as a modular tool for optimizing and evaluating the energy efficiency of renewable energy hydrogen production systems.
Ph.D. candidate Zhang Letian has reported under the title "Study on the influence mechanism of endogenous and exogenous additives on the production of monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons through the pyrolysis of plastic waste". She studied the influence mechanisms of endogenous inorganic and aluminum-based additives, as well as exogenous waste cooking oil additives, on the pyrolysis of waste plastics. First, by comparing the differences in structure, thermal stability, kinetics, and pyrolysis products between general waste plastics and pristine polymer plastics. Second, for the MFPPW system containing aluminum-based additives, an alkali pretreatment process was developed to remove the aluminum layer from metallized composite plastics. The regulatory effects of key parameters such as the Si/Al ratio of HZSM-5, pyrolysis temperature, and catalytic temperature on product distribution were studied, providing crucial data for scaling up pyrolysis experiments. Building on this, the differential regulatory mechanisms of exogenous waste cooking oil additives on the pyrolysis behavior of general and metallized composite plastics were further investigated. This research provides theoretical references for the high-value recycling of waste plastics.
Ph.D. candidate Ma Wanli has reported under the title "Hydrogenolysis Mechanism of Polyolefin Plastics under Ru/HZSM-5(ST) Catalyst": To advance the efficient resource utilization of polyolefin plastics, alleviate the pressure of white pollution, and support the requirements of circular economy development, he primarily focused on the structural regulation and catalytic performance optimization of the Ru/HZSM-5 (ST) catalyst, deeply investigating the polyolefin hydrogenolysis reaction pathways and the mechanism of active sites. Utilizing advanced characterization techniques such as in-situ mass spectrometry and in-situ infrared spectroscopy, the evolution patterns of intermediates during the reaction and the adsorption-desorption behaviors of surface species on the catalyst were precisely captured. The effects of reaction conditions on polyolefin cracking efficiency, product selectivity, and catalyst stability were analyzed. Considering the complex composition characteristics of real plastics, a synergistic optimization strategy of "catalyst regulation - multi-stage conversion" was clarified. Through active site enhancement - reaction path regulation - product directional enrichment, precise control of efficient polyolefin conversion was achieved, providing important insights and references for the industrial application of polyolefin plastic multi-stage conversion technology.
Ph.D. candidate Xu Donghua has reported under the title "Pyrolysis-Catalysis of Nylon 6 for Endogenous Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Nanotubes and Hydrogen Co-Production". To achieve high-value resource recovery from waste Nylon 6, this study uses nitrogen-containing volatiles from Nylon 6 pyrolysis as carbon and nitrogen sources for the co-production of nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes and hydrogen-rich syngas through a two-stage pyrolysis-catalysis process. The effects of catalyst metal components and catalytic temperature on yield distribution, product evolution, and element recovery efficiency were systematically investigated. The microscopic morphology, crystal structure, thermal stability, graphitization degree of the deposited carbon, and the doping forms of nitrogen elements on the carbon nanotube surface were explored using various characterization methods. Combined with tar component evolution and density functional theory calculations, the migration pathways and quantitative flow of nitrogen during the pyrolysis-catalysis process were constructed. This work provides an effective strategy for the green conversion of nitrogen-containing waste plastics and the preparation of high-value-added carbon materials.
Ph.D. candidate Chen Zichao has reported under the title "VOF-based medium-entropy alloys as efficient and stable catalysts for dry reforming of methane". To address climate change and promote the resource utilization of greenhouse gases, his research focuses on the dry reforming of methane (DRM) technology, which converts CH4 and CO2 into syngas. However, its industrial application is limited by catalyst deactivation due to coking and sintering. The study innovatively used MOFs as precursors to successfully synthesize a Ni2Co2MnZnMg20@C medium-entropy alloy catalyst. The structure-activity relationship of the catalyst was systematically investigated, revealing the mechanisms of different metals and elucidating the catalyst's reaction mechanism. The catalyst exhibited high activity and excellent stability in the DRM reaction at 650°C, with a carbon deposition content of only 0.24% after 24 hours of testing, demonstrating outstanding anti-deactivation capability. This work provides a simplified route for synthesizing medium-entropy alloys, offering new ideas for constructing coke-resistant DRM catalysts.
After the reports, the attending professors expressed their gratitude to Professor Lam for his guidance. Students present at the forum also actively asked questions and discussed scientific issues and technical details with the presenters. Through in-depth sharing and enthusiastic exchanges among young scholars, this forum not only showcased the team's innovative research achievements in the fields of clean energy and resource optimization but also fostered academic collaboration. The Fluidized Bed and Biomass Team will continue to advance the development of clean energy technologies, contributing to carbon neutrality and sustainable development.
