In order to meet the ever-increasing global energy demands while addressing climate change, the development of carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies is one of the critical needs. In particular, there have been significant efforts to develop innovative CO2 capture materials and CO2 conversion technologies to create a new circular carbon economy based on renewable energy. The next-generation CO2 capture materials, which are often water-free or water-lean, have unique structural and chemical properties that allow their applications in a wide range of reactive separation systems. Nanoparticle Organic Hybrid Materials (NOHMs) are organic-inorganic hybrids that consist of a hard nanoparticle core functionalized with a molecular organic corona that possesses a high degree of chemical and physical tunability. It has recently been discovered that NOHMs have interesting electrolyte properties that allow the CO2 capture to be pulled by the in-situ CO2 conversion reactions. The development of these unique nanoscale hybrid materials will not only advance CO2 capture materials design but also introduce unique research opportunities in various sustainable energy and environmental fields. This talk will discuss the challenges and opportunities of different CO2 capture and conversion pathways including Negative Emission Technologies (e.g., Direct Air Capture) that can allow the development of circular carbon and hydrogen economy using renewable energy.
Dr. Ah-Hyung “Alissa” Park currently serves as the Ronald and Valerie Sugar Dean of the Samueli School of Engineering at The University of California, Los Angeles. Park is one of the nation’s leading experts on carbon capture and conversion technology, is currently the Lenfest Earth Institute Professor of Climate Change and Chair of The Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering at Columbia University, where she has been a faculty member since 2007. She also is director of the Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy, an executive committee member of The Earth Institute and Columbia Climate School, and a member of Columbia’s department of chemical engineering.
Park is a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), as well as the American Chemical Society (ACS), Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She is also a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Committee on Carbon Utilization Infrastructure, Markets, Research and Development.
Park’s research focuses on sustainable energy and materials conversion pathways with an emphasis on using integrated carbon capture, utilization and storage technologies to address climate change. Her research group also is investigating direct air capture of carbon dioxide and negative emission technologies, including bioenergy with carbon capture and storage and sustainable construction materials with low carbon intensity.
Among her numerous awards and honors are American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Particle Technology Forum’s Shell Thomas Baron Award in Fluid-Particle Systems, a U.S. C3E Research Award, AIChE Particle Technology Forum’s PSRI Lectureship Award, the Janette and Armen Avanessians Diversity Award from the School of Engineering at Columbia University, an American Chemical Society Women Chemists Committee Rising Star Award, and a National Science Foundation CAREER Award. She also led several global and national discussions on Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage, including the Mission Innovation Workshop in 2017.
