(4nx) Carbon-Negative and Energy-Positive Solutions with the Potential of a Rapid Gt-Scale Implementation.

The carbon budgets to remain below global warming temperature limits of 1.5 and 2 °C (relative to the 1850–1900 average) are about 400 and 1150 gigatons (Gt) of CO₂ (calculated from beginning of 2020), respectively. At the current emissions rate of ~40 GtCO₂/yr, the budgets for staying below the 1.5 and 2 °C threshold would be exhausted in about 6 and 25 years, respectively. Moreover, it has been shown that the occurrence of extreme climate events depends on the warming rate, rather than the warming level.

These facts evidence the necessity of the establishment of a Gt-scale carbon-removal industry in the near future, which would also demand a multi-TWh-scale renewable energy capacity. Solar energy will play a principal role in fulfilling this energy demand given its abundance and geographical availability, not only at the carbon capture stage but also at various downstream, carbon utilization stages. Technologies for producing solar electricity and process heat, namely photovoltaic and concentrated thermal, are already mature. Challenges lie in integrating this intermittent energy source into conventionally continuous thermal and chemical processes, and in developing materials for efficient, robust and scalable conversion of the captured carbon. Solar energy also predominantly drives the natural carbon cycle, which is significantly larger in scale than anthropogenic carbon emissions, and which can thus be leveraged as well for significant carbon removal. Therefore, I want to focus my research efforts on solar-driven, carbon-negative and energy-positive solutions with the potential of a rapid Gt-scale implementation.

Teaching Interests

At the undergraduate level, I would like to contribute to the teaching of basic mechanical, chemical and process engineering topics, including but not limited to

• Thermodynamics
• Computational methods for heat transfer (conduction, convection, and radiation) and, in general, on transport phenomena that include the exchange of momentum, charge and mass.
• Chemical, physical, thermal, and mechanical properties of materials used in energy applications (such as metals, ceramics, polymers, and composites), as well as knowledge on manufacturing processes used to tailor such properties and characterization techniques used to measure them.
• Concepts of catalysis and reaction engineering, with an emphasis on surface reaction kinetics.
• Fundamentals on energy and carbon sources and usage, as well as energy conversion technologies and separation processes.

At the graduate level, I’m interested in teaching the subjects such as: renewable energy technologies, CO₂ capture and storage and the industry of carbon-based resources, modelling and mathematical methods in process and chemical engineering, separation technologies, energy storage technologies, green chemicals and fuel synthesis engineering.