Sustainable Energy Technologies for Industrial Decarbonization

A special issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 November 2025 | Viewed by 200

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Energy Technology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
Interests: biomass; solid waste; hydrogen; biocarbon; electrification; induction heating; catalytic pyrolysis; syngas; biofuel

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Guest Editor
School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
Interests: physics and chemistry of coal particle; clean and efficient coal combustion; material chemistry; DFT calculations; selective transformation of CO2 into value-added chemicals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The global drive toward carbon neutrality has placed increasing pressure on the industrial sector to transition to more sustainable practices. As one of the largest contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions, industry must undergo a profound transformation in the way it produces, consumes, and manages energy. Achieving industrial decarbonization is not only essential for meeting climate goals but also presents opportunities for innovation, competitiveness, and long-term resilience.

This Special Issue focuses on the role of sustainable energy technologies in enabling deep decarbonization across various industrial sectors. The aim is to provide a multidisciplinary platform for the dissemination of research that advances the development, integration, and assessment of clean, efficient, and scalable energy solutions for industry.

This Special Issue seeks to bridge technological innovation with practical implementation, offering a holistic view of how sustainable energy solutions can drive emissions reduction while supporting economic viability and industrial competitiveness. Contributions from the engineering, energy systems, environmental science, and policy domains are especially encouraged.

We welcome original research articles, critical reviews, modeling studies, and case analyses that explore sustainable energy innovations and their implications for industrial transformation. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Integration of renewable energy sources (e.g., solar, wind, geothermal) in industrial processes;
  • Electrification of industrial heating;
  • Carbon-neutral fuels, including green hydrogen, ammonia, and synthetic methane;
  • Energy efficiency technologies and demand-side management;
  • Waste heat recovery and thermal energy storage;
  • Carbon capture and utilization (CCU) in industrial applications;
  • Digitalization and smart energy systems for real-time control and optimization;
  • Life cycle assessment (LCA) and sustainability metrics for energy systems;
  • Policy, market design, and financing mechanisms supporting sustainable transitions.

Dr. Hanmin Yang
Dr. Hai Zhang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • industrial decarbonization
  • sustainable energy system
  • carbon-neutral fuels
  • waste heat recovery
  • carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS)
  • thermal energy storage
  • electrification of industry
  • renewable energy integration

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

31 pages, 1721 KB  
Review
Comparison of Compressed Air Energy Storage, Compressed Carbon Dioxide Energy Storage, and Carnot Battery: Principles, Thermal Integration, and Engineering Demonstrations
by Shengbai Zhang, Yuyu Lin, Lin Zhou, Huijin Qian, Jinrui Zhang and Yulan Peng
Processes 2025, 13(9), 2882; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr13092882 - 9 Sep 2025
Abstract
To assess multi-energy complementarity and commercial development status in thermodynamic energy storage systems, this review systematically examines compressed air energy storage (CAES), compressed CO2 energy storage (CCES), and Carnot battery (CB), focusing on principles, engineering demonstrations, and thermal integration. Their ability to [...] Read more.
To assess multi-energy complementarity and commercial development status in thermodynamic energy storage systems, this review systematically examines compressed air energy storage (CAES), compressed CO2 energy storage (CCES), and Carnot battery (CB), focusing on principles, engineering demonstrations, and thermal integration. Their ability to integrate external heat, conduct combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP), or achieve high round-trip efficiency (RTE) through different pathway positions them as critical enablers for achieving net-zero emissions. Over 240 research articles retrieved from Web of Science and other databases, supplemented by publicly available reports published between 2020 and 2025, were systematically analyzed and synthesized. Current technologies demonstrate evolution from single-function storage to multi-energy hubs, with RTEs reaching 75% (CAES/CCES) and 64% (CB). Thermal integration significantly enhances RTEs. The CCES features a 100 MW/1000 MWh demonstration facility, concurrently necessitating accelerated distributed applications with high efficiency (>70%) and energy density (>50 kWh/m3). All three enable grid flexibility (China’s CAES network), industrial decarbonization (CCES carbon–energy depositories), and thermal integration (CB-based CCHP). These systems require >600 °C compressors and AI-optimized thermal management (CAES), high-pressure turbines and carbon–energy coupling (CCES), as well as scenario-specific selection and equipment reliability validation (CB) to achieve the targets of the Paris Agreement. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Energy Technologies for Industrial Decarbonization)
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