Dear Colleagues,

Based on the EU climate action and the European Green Deal the European Union should become carbon neutral by 2050. This goal is a huge challenge for all European countries. To implement the Green Deal in the EU countries all fossil fuel energy sources must be replaced by the renewable ones. During the transition from traditional coal mining to green energy, a strong discussion about green products and repurposing of coal mines and coal power plants should be established.

This Special Issue is, therefore, devoted to the current challenges and the latest developments in widely understood eco-efficient transition from traditional coal mining industry to the industry based on green energy. Papers dealing with engineering, process integration, eco-efficiency, and environmental issues related to the transformations aiming at repurposing of carbon intensive coal-fired power plants into less polluting gas-fired or biomass-fired power plants, giving the coal-based power stations a “second life” are welcome, in particular papers addressing the question to what extent the replacement of coal with natural gas and/or biomass is environmentally sound. We invite papers devoted to the green electricity generation in systems based on PV and wind power, as well as utilization of surplus green electricity in water electrolysis to provide hydrogen for carbon dioxide conversion into value-added products (Power-to-X technologies); thermochemical conversion of biomass/biowaste/sewage sludge, as well as methane pyrolysis into hydrogen and carbon. Additionally, the papers focused on repurposing of end-of-life coal mines by deploying emerging renewable energy and circular economy technologies to promote transition to green energy are encouraged, as well as issues related to eco-efficiency, risk analysis, economical, sociological, and legal aspects.

Prof. Dr. Adam Smoliński
Prof. Dr. Natalia Howaniec
Prof. Dr. Józef Dubiński
Guest Editors

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• coal mining transformation
• sustainable energy systems
• renewable energy sources based electricity
• power-to-X technologies
• carbon dioxide utilization
• transition
• circular economy technologies
• recovery of coal mine affected areas
• eco-efficiency
• process integration
• social impact
• economic impact
• risk analysis