Jeddah 16 Rabi` Al-Akhir 1442 AH/December 01, 2020
His Royal Highness Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Minister of Energy, affirmed that the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology "KAUST" is equipped with all needs and requirements to activate the circular carbon economy initiative.
This came during the inauguration today of the university’s initiative for the circular economy of carbon (CCI), in support of the Kingdom's vision 2030, the Group of Twenty and the National Program for the Circular Carbon Economy (CCE). The ultimate goal of the university’s initiative is to harness the strengths of research and innovations at the university and to develop new technical solutions to support the circular carbon economy agenda.
KAUST developed the new circular carbon initiative across four areas including: (Reducing, reusing, recycling and decarbonizing), with the aim of mobilizing research and innovations at the university to develop new technological solutions, to support the agenda of the National Program for the Circular Carbon Economy (CCE), through the Future City, Cultivation of the Future, Fuel Station of the Future, Close Cycle of Carbon Dioxide emissions, and nature-based solutions.
KAUST President Tony Chan explained that the university seeks global leadership and excellence in science and engineering, contributes to providing economically effective solutions to meet national and global challenges and to be a beacon of knowledge that inspires the Kingdom and the world.
For his part, KAUST Vice President for Research Donal Bradley affirmed that the university seeks to make an impact through partnership with academics, the productive and government sectors, to ensure that the university's research is applied in a timely manner to achieve economic, social and environmental benefits, noting that the carbon initiative is in harmony with many of our strengths. "We are pleased that the university is able to respond to the Kingdom's call on this critical theme".
Since its establishment in 2009, KAUST has allocated strategic investments in the infrastructure of research centers, basic laboratories and a large number of talented people, which represents the foundations upon which the university’s portfolio of circular carbon economy solutions with its four components is based. This portfolio includes natural solutions and technologies for separation and second detention of carbon dioxide, renewable energy generation, and carbon dioxide exploitation in new fuels and materials.
To this end, KAUST works to enhance cooperation with academia, industry and government agencies to develop and disseminate new scientific and engineering solutions across five sustainable objectives: Energy-saving technologies, along with artificial intelligence to improve planning and urban operations. These projects include solar cells from next generation, hydrogen production, smart ways to treat decentralized wastewater, air conditioning, and energy-saving lights in smarter homes and neighborhoods, sustainable and smart agriculture uses recycled organic waste, greenhouses based on solar energy, and saline water to achieve optimum plant growth, food security and energy supplies, and remote sensing tools to track and monitor carbon and water use, which greatly reduces pollution and water consumption in desert sites.
Blue carbon approaches are based on reducing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, while enriching terrestrial and oceanic ecosystems, restoring mangroves and seaweeds, recycling carbon dioxide emissions with bacterial systems, and cultivating algae among the mitigation and adaptation solutions to address climate change. It restores future fuel production and defines carbon dioxide emissions as a valuable material of economic value.
Technologies for developing electronic fuels include, reusing carbon dioxide with green hydrogen, and converting materials such as green and blue ammonia, formic acid (methanolic acid) and synthetic gas, into free or reduced materials.
Carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere are captured, stored and converted, to reduce the effects of climate change. These new processes directly capture carbon dioxide from the air, and at the sources of emissions. The storage and geochemical solutions enhance both geothermal energy and oil extraction solutions.
