Zhengdong Library on Peiyang Park Campus recently witnessed the 79th Youth Scholar Academic Salon. Song Chunfeng, the associate professor from the School of Environmental Science and Engineering, delivered a seminar on the capture, storage, and utilization of greenhouse gases.

Prof. Song introduced greenhouse gases and their effects at the beginning of the seminar. “The emission of greenhouse gases all over the world has been increasing rapidly for a long time.” he stated, “Several greenhouse gases contributing to global warming include CO2, CH4, N2O, HFC5, PFC5, SF6, among which CO2 ranks first.” When it came to the source of CO2, Prof. Song continued, “High levels of fossil fuel combustion aggravate the greenhouse effect, and it’s high time we took measures to prevent it from worsening.” In order to enliven the atmosphere and arouse the interest of audience, Prof. Song asked them to guess how much CO2 was produced per year in the world, and he revealed it to be a colossal volume.

After the introduction of his research background, it came to the theory part of the seminar—the technique employed in capturing and recycling CO2. Prof. Song mentioned, “The procedure of capturing and reusing CO2 is very complicated, and is prohibitively expensive, which makes it less competitive from an economic perspective”. Then, he introduced the research results of his team, and illustrated a series of principles attached to it. Through continuous physical and chemical changes, CO2 is transformed into biomass and bioenergy that can be recycled by nature circles. When asked about the profitability of his research results, Prof. Song explained: “Despite their complication, they bring in more profits than costs”.

Prof. Song put forward his outlook toward the recycling of CO2 at the end. “There is a long way to go,” he said, “On the one hand, the government should spare no effort to regulate CO2 emissions, especially those from the heavy chemical industry. On the other hand, relevant legislation ought to keep pace with economic development, and prevent excessive CO2 emissions at the source.” Apart from the aspects mentioned above, he also expressed his expectations for technology: “Reducing energy consumption is an irresistible trend,” he continued, “Only by promoting new energy technology related to recycling CO2 and popularizing it can we curb global warming and protect our planet more efficiently”.

By: Ma Zhou

Photo: Ma Zhou

Editors: Qin Mian and Christopher Peter Clarke