Chemical Engineering Science 203 (2019) 247–258

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Chemical Engineering Science

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ces

The critical contribution of chemical engineering to a pathway

to sustainability
Hamid Arastoopour
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Wanger Institute for Sustainable Energy Research (WISER), Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL, United States

h i g h l i g h t s

 Chemical engineers should play major R&D role in pathway to sustainability.

 Chemical engineers should play a key role in carbon capture and desalination research.
 Chemical engineers should lead research in process intensification and biofuels.
 Chemical engineers must contribute to natural gas and energy storage research.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The vision of a pathway to a sustainable society is based on the three-pillar conception of sustainability
Received 29 August 2018 (economic, environmental, and social) that is expected to result in a significant improvement in the reli-
Received in revised form 8 March 2019 ability, security, and affordability of energy, materials, water, and food. This pathway should include
Accepted 26 March 2019
launching a multidisciplinary and least-cost strategy to move from today’s carbon-based economy
Available online 29 March 2019
toward a sustainable economy and, at the same time, to provide the needed energy, water, food, and
materials for present and future generations. It is imperative that chemical engineers do not relinquish
their leadership role in research and development as global energy systems continue to evolve in a his-
torical cycle from primary reliance on wood to coal and oil, to current reliance on natural gas as a tran-
sitional fuel in contributing to a pathway to sustainable global energy systems. Although
multidisciplinary research and development is needed to move forward on a pathway to sustainability,
in this paper, specific areas of research and development are discussed in which chemical engineers
should assume a leadership role or become major contributors in this critical initiative. These areas
include, but are not limited to: carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration; process intensification;
material recycling; water management and desalination; biofuel; natural gas production and conversion;
energy storage; and renewable energy, including concentrated solar energy use in chemical, pharmaceu-
tical, and biological processes, and advanced materials for photovoltaics.
Ó 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1. Introduction
Chemical engineering evolved from the design and application
of chemistry-based separation processes for which traditional
mechanical engineers and chemists lacked the needed comprehen-
sion. Chemical engineering was first established as a profession in
the United Kingdom in 1887 when the first chemical engineering
course was developed by George E. Davis at the University of
Manchester and covered various applications of industrial chem-
istry (Peppas, 2008).
The success of oil and gas exploration and resulting demand for
sweetening natural gas and refining crude oil to obtain different
fuels, particularly gasoline for the automobile industry, created
E-mail address: arastoopour@iit.edu
the worldwide need for even more chemical engineers. From
1960 to 1980, in addition to the development of processes for
new products, the chemical process industry began to focus on
making more efficient processes to reduce the cost of the products
using computer-based technologies and computer-aided design
tools. Furthermore, advances in computational hardware made it
possible to develop and apply advanced software such as computa-
tional fluid dynamics (CFD) and advanced process control and opti-
mization to chemical processes. In the 1990s, chemical engineers
began to apply their skill and process know-how in not only energy
conversion, but also in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, microelec-
tronics, and nanotechnology processes. This broadening of chemi-
cal engineering application continues today and will play a
significant role in the future of chemical engineering research
and development.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ces.2019.03.069
0009-2509/Ó 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
248 H. Arastoopour / Chemical Engineering Science 203 (2019) 247–258
With regard to global energy systems, chemical engineers
should continue their leadership in a system approach and not lose
this leading role in research and development as global energy sys-
tems continue to evolve in the historical cycle from primary reli-
ance on wood to coal and oil, and current reliance on natural gas
as a transitional fuel toward a pathway to sustainable global
energy systems.
Continuous advancements in the development of devices with
accurate and fast response measurements at the molecular/cellu-
lar, particle, and reactor scales, along with advances in computa-
tional capabilities, enable chemical engineers to develop more
bridges between different scales. This allows chemical engineers
to create more rigorous and accurate design and scale-up tools
such as computational transport phenomena (CTP), molecular
dynamics, and artificial intelligence/neural network software, and
to begin to shorten the gap between laboratory and industrial
scales.
Today, there is an even greater opportunity for chemical engi-
neers to use chemical engineering principles such as transport phe-
nomena, chemical reaction engineering, and process design and
scale-up, and advanced experimental tools and software to become
one of the main drivers in technological research and development
in building a pathway toward a future sustainable society and to
continue to become a major contributor and/or leader in the mul-
tidisciplinary research, education, and industrial movements of the
future sustainable world and sustainable economy. This paper
highlights some of the present and potential future research
opportunities for chemical engineers in contributing to a pathway
to sustainability.
1.1. A pathway to sustainability
The sustainability concept, which is both multi-faceted and
complex, includes meeting the needs of the present generation
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their needs. The concept of sustainability is composed of three pil-
lars: economic, environmental, and social (Barbier, 1987; Clune
and Zehnder, 2018; Puris et al., 2018). Rockstrom et al. (2009) pro-
posed quantitative planetary boundaries within which humanity
can continue to develop and thrive for generations to come and
identified nine processes (climate change, ozone layer depletion,
biodiversity loss, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles, ocean acidifica-
tion, global freshwater use, atmospheric aerosol loading, change in
land use and chemical pollution) that regulate the stability and
resilience of the Earth system. In the literature, there are several
studies addressing planetary boundaries, and social and economic
pillars, such as: Jackson (2016), Gough (2017), and Raworth (2018).
However, our focus in this study is the contribution of engineering
and technological innovation to a pathway to a sustainable
economy.
Security and economic vitality and growth of global societies
depend upon adequate future supplies of energy, water, and food,
and their nexus. Technological innovation aims to improve the reli-
ability, security, and affordability of energy, materials, water, and
food. This will be realized by launching a least-cost strategy to
move from today’s carbon-based economy toward a sustainable
economy and, at the same time, to provide the needed energy,
water, food, and materials for present and future generations.
Probably the greatest challenge in meeting our goal revolves
around the question of how we can provide and consume needed
energy, water, food, and materials in a sustainable way. The tech-
nological contribution to a pathway toward sustainability and to
planetary boundaries must include: gradually decarbonizing the
global energy system; increasing energy efficiency; developing
innovative technologies to enhance needed freshwater and clean
energy production; and preserving natural resources and the envi-
ronment for future generations. The technological contribution to a
pathway to sustainability should include three plans (short-term,
transitional, and long-term) that must be launched simultane-
ously. The research and development needed for all three plans
also must be launched simultaneously.
1.2. Setting short-term goals
Short-term technical and scientific plans should address our
immediate need for energy supplies, materials, food, and water,
and efficient and smart usage and conservation. The short-term
strategy should include: establishment of research and develop-
ment initiatives in energy security and reliability, and efficient
and smart use of electricity, fuels, and water in the residential,
commercial, industrial, and transportation sectors; intensification
of chemical and biological processes; and development of carbon
capture, utilization, and sequestration technologies. Short-term
plans should also include: gradual change to hybrid and electric
cars, use of highly efficient appliances, development of sustainable
built environment programs, water and materials accountability
and recycling, and use of innovative local programs to reduce
CO2 production, such as sustainable urban food production.
1.3. Managing the transition
Transitional technical and scientific plans should address the
transition from the present stage to the desired long-term goal of
a society powered by sustainable energy using natural gas (with
a lower carbon-to-hydrogen ratio) as the main transitional fuel,
and possibly nuclear energy in some regions. This requires signifi-
cant investment in research and development on the production of
natural gas (using environmentally acceptable fracturing or other
technologies) from gas hydrates and low-permeability reserves
(such as shale), and efficient production of biofuel from biomass
and waste gasification. The plan should incorporate major infras-
tructural change and investment in electricity, water, and gas
grids. The plan should also include research and development on
freshwater production using advanced desalination technology
based on renewable energy, coordination between critical infras-
tructures (electricity, telecommunications, natural gas, and water),
and enhancement of infrastructure resilience in adverse
conditions.
1.4. Implementing an effective long-term strategy
An effective long-term technical and scientific plan should
address major and comprehensive basic and applied research and
development initiatives in renewable energy (e.g., solar, wind,
and geothermal); and integration of concentrated solar energy in
chemical, pharmaceutical, and biological processes. The long-
term strategy must include needed research and development in
the large- and small-scale energy storage area to accommodate
conditions in which the major component of electricity is being
produced using renewable energy sources and integration and syn-
chronization of renewable energy with the electricity grid. The
long-term plan should also demand life cycle analysis of materials
and a global water and carbon-based fuels consumption policy.
Managing the world’s successful transition to a sustainable
society will also require the development and implementation of
a comprehensive and multi-tiered energy and sustainability econ-
omy (Raworth, 2018), international policy, and education of the
general public, not only in advances in science and engineering,
but also in understanding the three pillars of sustainability, plane-
tary boundaries, and the necessary changes in social issues and
human behavior. Furthermore, the successful transition to a sus-
tainable society must overcome highly significant social challenges
 H. Arastoopour / Chemical Engineering Science 203 (2019) 247–258
including continuing world population growth (Bartlett, 1994) and
corresponding global growth in energy, food, and water consump-
tion per capita. This makes our pathway to sustainability extre-
mely complex and requires a significant change in the way we
live today.
Chemical engineers are in an excellent position to take a leader-
ship role or become major contributors in multidisciplinary efforts
in research, development, and education, not only to a pathway
toward sustainability, but also in the development of a future
world fueled by a sustainable economy.
2. Specific contribution of chemical engineering research to a
pathway to a sustainable society
Today, there is a unique opportunity for chemical engineers to
take advantage of advances in experimental measurement and
computational tools, including artificial intelligence, neural net-
works, computational transport phenomena (CTP), and molecular
dynamics, and their knowledge and understanding of the systems
approach, to make chemical engineering one of the leading disci-
plines in the multidisciplinary research and development needed
to contribute to a pathway to the future sustainable world. As
shown in Fig. 1, the areas of research and development in which
chemical engineers may position themselves as major contributors
in a multidisciplinary effort and/or take a leadership role include:
carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration; process intensifica-
tion; water management and material recycling as part of the
short-term strategic goal; innovative and efficient technologies
for production of biofuel, gasification of biomass and municipal
waste, advances in natural gas production and conversion and
water desalination as part of the transitional strategy goal; and
renewable energy (wind, geothermal, concentrated solar energy
use in the chemical, pharmaceutical and biological processes and
advanced materials for photovoltaics) and energy storage as part
of the long-term strategy. Chemical engineers should be motivated
to participate in specific areas in large-scale initiatives such as sus-
Fig. 1. Steps for chemical engineering contribution toward a pathway to sustainability.
249
tainable cities and the journey toward a carbon-emission-free
world, not only by capturing carbon, but also by using carbon-
free energy and reducing CO2 production that could include urban
farming (reducing CO2 production due to transportation of prod-
ucts), energy conservation, and use of more efficient devices and
lighting systems.
The next sections provide a brief discussion of the above-
mentioned present and future opportunities for chemical engi-
neering contributions toward a pathway to a sustainable society
and a sustainable economy.
2.1. Carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration
The world consumption of energy from all fuel sources except
coal will increase through year 2040 and renewables are the
world’s fastest-growing energy source, with consumption increas-
ing by an average of 2.3%/year between 2015 and 2040. Although
consumption of non-fossil fuels is expected to grow faster than fos-
sil fuels, fossil fuels will still account for a majority of energy use in
2040. Natural gas is the fastest-growing fossil fuel in the projec-
tions, with other fossil fuel percentages decreasing by 2040
(Energy Information Administration report, 2017). As oil prices
rise, it will be expected that several energy user industries will
intensify the processes, adopt more energy-efficient technologies,
and possibly switch away from liquid fuels to natural gas when
it is feasible. Fig. 2 shows the global anthropogenic CO2 emissions
and cumulative emissions of CO2 equivalents from forestry and
other land use and from burning of fossil fuel (Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change, IPCC report, 2014). This figure clearly
shows a significantly higher contribution from fossil fuel consump-
tion compared to land use and a continuous increase in CO2 pro-
duction with time. All of these predictions indicate that the
global emission of CO2 and its impact on climate change will con-
tinue for many years in the near future and chemical engineers are
among the best professionals to have opportunities to address the
250 H. Arastoopour / Chemical Engineering Science 203 (2019) 247–258

Fig. 2. Global anthropogenic CO2 emissions and cumulative emissions of CO2. (This figure was originally published in the 2014 IPCC report and has been reused with
permission.)

research and development needed to advance the critical area of

CO2 capture, utilization, and even sequestration.
There are two major sources of anthropogenic CO2 production
from fossil fuel consumption, namely, mobile and stationary. Cap-
turing CO2 from mobile sources is extremely challenging and
requires significant research and possible use of a non-carbon-
based fuel or energy supply. In stationary sources including indus-
trial and power plants, CO2 is usually generated through combus-
tion or gasification and becomes part of the mixture of gases,
usually in the range of 15 20%, leaving the plants. The major chal-
lenge is separating CO2 from other gases in the mixture using eco-
nomically competitive processes, and then regenerating it in the
concentrated form with less volume for utilization and/or seques-
tration. Today, liquid-based technology for CO2 capture is commer-
cially available; however, these liquid-based processes have
shortcomings including low operating temperature and high heat
for regeneration, which demand a high energy penalty. On the
other hand, solid sorbents have a demonstrated lower energy pen-
alty due to CO2 sorption at higher temperature and CO2 regenera-
tion at temperatures not significantly higher than the sorption
temperature and at possibly lower pressure (Breault et al., 2016;
Abbasi et al., 2014). Furthermore, chemical looping and the use Fig. 3. Contours of CO2 mole fraction in the CFB system after 15 s of the simulation.
of oxygen in place of air in combustion and gasification processes
results in the direct production of a concentrated CO2 stream
(Zhao et al., 2017). Although at the present time there is no avail- sorbent preparation, fundamental studies on developing rate of
able large-scale commercial plant for CO2 capture using solid sor- reaction and constitutive relation for gas solid flow, development
bents, numerical simulation studies by the research team at IIT of bench-scale cold model experiments, validation of flow and
have shown the capability of such systems (Abbasi et al., 2015; reaction models with experimental data including comparison of
Ghadirian et al., 2017). Fig. 3 shows the CFD simulation of the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) predictions with bench-scale
CO2 concentration profile using a regenerable MgO-based solid experimental data for further modification of the CFD model and,
sorbent at high pressure and temperature in a circulating fluidized finally, simulation of CO2 sorption and regeneration at desired high
bed (CFB) system after 15 s of the simulation. In this process, gas pressure and high temperature as the a basis for design and scale-
containing CO2 enters the bottom of the fluidized bed absorber up of the system. In all these steps of the road map, there will be
and reacts with fresh sorbent in the bed. The CO2-laden particles significant opportunities for chemical engineers to get involved
flow up the riser and flow to the regenerator fluidized bed, where and develop high-capacity and durable sorbents and innovative
CO2 is released from the sorbent particles by heating up the spent processes and models. There are many studies in the literature
sorbent using concentrated solar energy or steam. The regenerated on the sorbent preparation that could be excellent initial steps in
sorbent particles then move to the fluidized bed absorber to com- preparation of optimum CO2 capture sorbents. For example,
plete the loop. This simulation shows not only how a CFB loop sys- regarding amine-based sorbents, Darunte et al. (2017) explored
tem can be used to capture CO2 and regenerate CO2-laden sorbents, the potential of using an amine-functionalized metal organic
but also shows the capability of the CFD approach that is based on framework (MOF), Park et al. (2011) studied enhancement of CO2
the fundamentals of transport phenomena on the simulation, capture capacity and selectivity via the intermolecular interactions
design, and scale-up of such systems. between CO2 and amines using nanoparticle organic hybrid mate-
Fig. 4 shows an example of the research road map for the CO2 rials, and Vilarrasa-Garcia et al. (2015) and Cecilia et al. (2016)
capture process using regenerable solid sorbent and a CFB system. examined CO2 adsorption on amine-modified silica. For high tem-
Five different stages are identified in this road map; namely: perature and pressure processes such as integrated gasification
 H. Arastoopour / Chemical Engineering Science 203 (2019) 247–258
Fig. 4. A road map to CO2 capture research using solid sorbents.
combined cycle (IGCC), MgO-based sorbents probably are the best
alternative (Zarghami et al., 2015; Vu et al., 2014).
At the fundamental studies and model development step, there
is also a great future opportunity to develop more reliable reaction/
regeneration or adsorption/desorption rate models, and expansion
of the kinetic-theory-based CFD for gas solid flow (Gidaspow,
1994; Arastoopour, 2001) to computational transport phenomena
(CTP) capable of design and scale-up of the reactors and the entire
reaction for the chemical looping process and the CO2 capture loop
(Abbasi and Arastoopour, 2011; Arastoopour et al., 2017). Future
research may include: more accurate models for effect of hetero-
geneities on interfacial interaction including turbulence between
gas and solid phases (Li and Kwauk, 1994; Igci et al., 2008;
Ghadirian and Arastoopour, 2016; Sinclair and Mallo, 1998); fur-
ther development of the constitutive equations for the particulate
phase including the effect of particle shape and size distribution;
and development of more accurate models for particles variation
properties due to particle growth, breakage, attrition, and agglom-
eration by linking the population balance equation with CTP equa-
tions followed by use of an innovative numerical approach such as
method of moments (Marchisio et al., 2003; Abbasi and
Arastoopour, 2013; Strumendo and Arastoopour, 2008).
Finally, enhanced collaborative efforts with computer science
researchers are essential for chemical engineers considering the
continuing advances in measurements and in computational capa-
bility and to develop more efficient computer codes for CTP cap-
able of reducing computational time for simulation, design, and
scale-up of CO2 capture and chemical looping processes.
There are also future research opportunities for physical
adsorption of CO2 using, for example, a metal organic framework,
carbons, and zeolites (Sayari et al., 2011; Li et al., 2011; Pevida
et al., 2008), exploration of CO2 capture using membrane technol-
ogy (Brunetti et al., 2010), and use of advanced high-surface-area
catalysts or sorbents for capturing CO2 from the air at a very low
concentration (Pang et al., 2017).
In general, all CO2 capture technologies have their own advan-
tages and limitations, but their stability and removal efficiency
are the main challenges and opportunities for future research to
251
improve the performance and reduce the cost and energy required
for CO2 separation (Mondal et al., 2012).
Catalytic conversion of carbon dioxide into fuels provides an
attractive utilization of CO2 and opens up a great opportunity for
future chemical engineering related research. Recently, Asadi
et al. (2016) demonstrated catalytic electrochemical CO2 conver-
sion to carbon monoxide in an ionic liquid.
Sequestration of carbon dioxide must be designed such that the
CO2 cannot escape from the rock formation into which it is
injected. This provides an opportunity for chemical engineers to
play a major role in multidisciplinary research in the stability
and time scale of trapped CO2 in the pores of the underground for-
mations (Andrew et al., 2014; de Chalendar et al., 2018).
2.2. Process intensification
Process intensification may be defined as the development of an
innovative approach that provides extremely significant improve-
ments in chemical and biological processes by increasing efficiency
and reducing energy consumption and waste generation, leading
to significant cost reduction and a more sustainable process.
Stankiewicz and Moulin (2000) concluded that process intensifica-
tion represents progressive thinking about the processes and view-
ing them integrally through the tasks they have to fulfill and the
results they have to deliver. In the sustainable world, there is a
continuous responsibility for chemical engineers to use fundamen-
tals of chemical engineering and their expertise in process design
and scale-up to conduct research and development in process
intensification of chemical, biological, and pharmaceutical pro-
cesses, to increase process efficiency, reduce energy and water con-
sumption, and gradually substitute fossil energy with renewable
energy. Examples of processes that demonstrate the potential to
provide great opportunities for intensification include: separation
processes (Agrawal, 2001), solid handling (Wang et al., 2017), solar
energy as a process intensification tool for chemical and biological
processes including biodiesel production (Gupta et al., 2018), and
rotating fluidized bed for the polymerization process to decrease
reactor size and enhance heat and mass transfer at higher gravita-
252 H. Arastoopour / Chemical Engineering Science 203 (2019) 247–258
tional force at higher rotating speed (Ahmadzadel et al., 2008,
2003).
2.3. Material recycling
The word ‘‘recycle” suggests movement in a circle. However,
when it comes to polymers and elastomers, that vision doesn’t
quite match reality. Recycling of polymeric and elastomeric mate-
rials is the process of recovering scrap or waste rubber or thermo-
plastic or thermosetting polymers and reprocessing the material
into useful products. Humanity has generated billions of metric
tons of waste and continues to generate more polymeric and elas-
tomeric waste, most of which at the present time will end up in
landfills. Current recycling technologies usually result in some
form of downgraded product. This opens up a unique research
opportunity for chemical engineers in our pathway to sustainabil-
ity with the goal of closing the cycle and recycling the polymeric
and elastomeric materials to original use or high-grade applica-
tions. The critical challenge is that future chemical and biochemical
recycling innovations must be inexpensive, not energy intensive,
and any required energy must be provided by renewables such
as solar.
For thermoplastic polymers that melt upon heating, one
approach to recycling could be breaking the polymers down into
individual monomers and subsequently rebuilding the same poly-
mer products from the ground up. For thermosetting polymers, one
approach to recycling could be to pulverize the polymers and reuse
them as filler for making new thermosetting polymers. Chemical
engineers are in excellent position to develop new technologies
for recycling of thermosetting materials. Elastomeric materials
such as tires are crosslinked or volcanized and the first step should
include the devulcanization process that causes cleavage of the
crosslinks via chemical, microwave, and ultrasonic and mechanical
treatments. The mechanical approach pulverizes the rubber to
small devulcanized particles and results in significantly less degra-
dation of the rubber (Bilgili et al., 2001). One of the promising pul-
verization technologies that also partially devulcanizes the rubber
without degradation is solid state shear extrusion (SSSE). This
novel IIT-developed process is a non-cryogenic size reduction pro-
cess under high shear and compression by which polymeric mate-
rials or elastomers can be pulverized. Typically, pulverized powder
of 10 lm 500 lm in size is produced (Bilgili et al., 2001; Shahidi
et al., 2006; Eskandari and Arastoopour, 2009). Fig. 5 shows a sche-
matic diagram of our single screw extruder used for pulverization
of polymers and rubber. Conceptually, materials at high shear and
compression store an increasing amount of energy until it reaches
a condition that is no longer sustainable. When this condition is
Fig. 5. Schematic diagram of single screw extruder for pulverization of polymers
and rubber.
reached, the energy is released through the formation of a large
surface area (pulverization) and, for the case of rubber, in partial
devulcanization. Fig. 6 shows a schematic of vulcanization and
devulcanization or recycling of rubber using SSSE technology. In
addition, future research on the modification of recycled rubber
particles to introduce chemical functionality or novel physical
properties can significantly enhance their utility. For example,
modifications involving the addition of a hydrophilic character to
the hydrophobic rubber can produce water dispersible, structured
rubber particles and prevent their agglomeration in aqueous media
(Shahidi et al., 2004). This can provide a much broader range of
application for recycled rubber particles, such as coating and as
an additive to water-based paint applications. More important,
the water-absorbing and retaining capability of the structured rub-
ber particles enables them to be mixed with soil and significantly
reduces the amount of water needed to grow a plant.
Another area of opportunity for present and potential future
fundamental and applied research for chemical engineers is the
development of durable biodegradable materials and polymers
(Shutov et al., 1997).
In summary, chemical engineers can contribute significantly to
the development of innovative processes for material recycling by
modifying the recycled materials for different applications and
conducting fundamental research needed to produce durable and
economically feasible biodegradable polymers.
2.4. Water management
The world runs on water. Clean (fresh) water is indispensable
for all forms of life and is needed for almost all human activities.
Water supplies are vital for world daily survival, industry, agricul-
ture, and energy production and will remain a crucial factor in the
many challenges that our world faces. As such, providing secure
sources of clean water is one of the pivotal components in develop-
ing a global pathway to sustainability.
The world’s water systems are facing a real problem. More than
a billion people currently live in water-scarce regions, and this
number will continue to increase due to a drop in the water table
all over the world, increase in population, and increase in the stan-
dard of living, which requires more water consumption per capita.
Furthermore, anthropogenic climate change adds additional com-
plexity and challenges to the global water supplies by directly
shifting precipitation patterns and speeding glacial melt. Because
agriculture accounts for a majority of global freshwater use, the
food production for the increasing population of the world will
become a major global issue and concern. Therefore, there is a
great need for research and development in areas related to water
management such as wastewater use and treatment in residential
and commercial buildings, and elimination of freshwater con-
sumption in industries and utilities. To reduce water consumption
in agriculture, which is the main consumer of freshwater, mixing of
soil with biochar or modified rubber particles (Shahidi et al., 2010),
or new innovative future products developed potentially by chem-
ical engineers will result in more retention of water and prevent
unnecessary evaporation. In addition, the use of fertilizer results
in leaching of different chemicals including phosphorus from the
soil to the water, or from animals or human wastes to the wastew-
ater systems. This requires the development of not only more effi-
cient and innovative wastewater treatment processes, but also an
innovative approach to improve the efficiency of phosphorus use
in fertilizer (Clift and Shaw, 2012). On the residential front,
wastewater contains both thermal and, in the case of tall buildings,
potential energy that can be used to generate electricity and run
heat pumps. Walker et al. (2012, 2013) showed that the use of trea-
ted municipal wastewater to replace freshwater as make-up water
to a recirculating cooling system in a thermoelectric power plant
 H. Arastoopour / Chemical Engineering Science 203 (2019) 247–258
Fig. 6. Schematic diagram of vulcanization and devulcanization (recycling) of rubber using SSSE technology.
has the potential to be economically viable. They also determined
the extent of the treatment needed to optimize the cost of using
wastewater.
In summary, chemical engineers with strong expertise in chem-
ical and biological process development and design, and knowl-
edge of chemistry and biology are in an excellent position to
assume a critical role in multidisciplinary efforts in current and
future research and development in the water management area,
including innovation in the development of a new generation of
fertilizers that will reduce the release of phosphorus in the water
cycle.
2.5. Water desalination
Drinking water is essential for our survival. Water covers three-
fourths of the Earth’s surface and only 1% of the world’s water is
presently usable for us. About 97% is salty seawater and 2% is fro-
zen in glaciers (Velmurugan et al., 2008). To convert the needed
part of this huge salty seawater reserve to drinkable water, desali-
nation (a process that extracts mineral components from saline
water) seems to be the only solution. In fact, evaporation of water
over the oceans and its return in the form of rain or snow is the
largest-scale natural desalination process. Water-scarce (lack of
freshwater resources to meet water demand) regions in the world
continuously increase due to population growth, improvements in
the standard of living, and climate change. Desalination could be
the best solution for these regions because it is relevant and eco-
nomically attractive because of the lack of other resources for
freshwater. Due to its energy consumption, desalinating sea water
is generally more costly than securing freshwater from other
sources. This means desalination using renewable energy, particu-
larly solar, to provide needed energy is the most promising route to
meet future world freshwater demand (Gude, 2016) in our journey
to sustainability. Thermally driven desalination technologies fre-
quently require low-temperature heat sources. This provides
future opportunities for chemical engineers developing innovative
hybrid systems with low-temperature energy producing systems
such as: solar, cogeneration processes, industrial waste energy,
geothermal, and fuel cells. Desalination using solar is still a simple
and direct use of solar energy (Selvaraj and Natarajan, 2018). More
research and development by chemical engineers in a multidisci-
plinary team is needed to create an innovative hybrid of solar
thermal and concentrated solar power with a photovoltaic system
to provide all needed energy for more efficient desalination
processes.
253
In addition, chemical engineers are in an excellent position to
conduct fundamental research to create new, innovative, and more
efficient desalination processes and to take research and educa-
tional leadership in ongoing areas, such as membranes and related
issues including biofouling (Nagaraj et al., 2018) and microbial
desalination cells (Sophia et al., 2016).
2.6. Biofuel
Biomass, including municipal solid waste (MSW), most often
refers to plant-based materials that are not used for food. As an
energy source, biomass (specifically lignocellulosic biomass) can
either be used directly (combustion or gasification) or indirectly
by conversion (thermal, chemical, and biochemical) to various
forms of biofuel. The chemical conversion of biomass to liquid to
be used in transportation applications may be achieved using
chemical processes such as pyrolysis, Fisher Tropsch, and other
innovative catalytic processes (Swain et al., 2011; Chheda et al.,
2007). Biochemical conversion makes use of the enzymes of bacte-
ria and other microorganisms to break down biomass into gaseous
or liquid fuels. The thermal conversion of biomass, including MSW
to gaseous fuels, is mainly accomplished through the gasification
process (Zhang and Pang, 2017; Yan et al., 2016; Moya et al., 2017).
Although biomass as a phase-change, carbon-neutral source
will not provide a total solution to substitute fossil fuel due to
insufficient land, competition with land use for food, and freshwa-
ter availability, it demonstrates great potential to contribute signif-
icantly to our pathway to sustainability during the transitional
step. Among all biomass, algae is probably the best candidate to
become a biomass fuel source of the future because it does not
need freshwater, can grow in salty water, and does not require sig-
nificant land to compete with land use for food. Algae, or, more
correctly, microalgae, are very small aquatic organisms that con-
vert sunlight into energy. Under the right conditions, algae can
produce a significant amount of oil that can be converted into bio-
fuels (Aly Eldeen et al., 2010).
Chemical engineers represent the most qualified discipline, by
far, to assume a leadership role in launching research and develop-
ment programs to advance the critical area of biomass, including
MSW conversion to fuel, as a major energy source in our journey
to a sustainable economy due to their knowledge of chemistry,
biology, and process design and scale-up. The contribution of
chemical engineers in research and development in the area of
conversion of algae to fuel may include fundamental studies in
the rate of growth of algae under different conditions, investigation
254 H. Arastoopour / Chemical Engineering Science 203 (2019) 247–258
of the effect of light distribution on algae growth, and the CTP
approach in the scale-up of the algae growth and conversion to
fuel. In more complicated conversion processes, such as gasifica-
tion of biomass and MSW, in addition to the contribution to funda-
mentals of chemical reaction and fluidization, chemical engineers
have opportunities to conduct innovative research in the artificial
intelligence/neural network and the CTP area to design and scale
up the entire system.
2.7. Natural gas production and conversion
Natural gas as a transitional or bridging fuel is able to power our
economy on our pathway to a sustainable economy with less CO2
emission, which is responsible for climate change. To serve as a
bridge, natural gas must gradually replace coal and possibly oil
in the transition to a renewables-only future. Natural gas is a
clean-burning source of energy and it emits approximately half
as much carbon as coal for each unit of energy produced. There
is a significant amount of natural gas reserves in the world in the
form of gas reservoirs, gas reserves associated with oil reservoirs,
and unconventional gas reservoirs in the form of low-
permeability reserves (e.g., shale gas) and hydrate reserves.
The shale gas global reserves estimate is 7000 trillion cubic feet
(tcf), according to the Energy Information Administration (2013).
Shales are fine-grained sedimentary rocks with low permeability
and porosity and rich sources of petroleum and natural gas. During
the past decade, the combination of innovation in directional dril-
ling and hydraulic fracturing technology has allowed access to
large volumes of shale gas that were previously uneconomical to
produce. Hydraulic fracturing is a well stimulation technique in
which rock is fractured by injecting a pressurized liquid (primarily
water, containing sand or other proppants suspended with the aid
of thickening agents) into a wellbore to create cracks and a huge
exposure surface area in the deep-rock formations causing an
increase of several orders of magnitude in gas flow out of the shale
formation.
The expected potential low price and available supply of shale
gas and hydrate reserves is providing opportunities for chemical
engineers to expand research and development in environmental
issues related to fracturing fluid and create innovative processes
for producing liquid fuels and chemical feedstocks (Siirola, 2014;
Gidaspow et al., 2015; Joseph, 2018).
Natural gas from hydrates is extremely abundant as an energy
resource; even the more conservative estimates of global
resource-grade deposits equal about 100,000 tcf (Boswell and
Collett, 2011), which is about 15 times the estimate for shale gas.
U.S. resource-grade hydrate deposits are estimated to be more than
20 times the domestic proved natural gas resources (Energy
Information Administration, 2016). Methane hydrate or gas
hydrate is a naturally forming compound that consists of methane
molecules trapped within the crystalline lattice of water mole-
cules, barring any chemical bonding. Methane hydrate forms natu-
rally under high-pressure and low-temperature conditions,
creating a structure resembling ice. This condition is common in
the marine sediment along continental borders and below about
200 m depth in permafrost areas.
Hydrate contains enormous volumes of methane, which can be
accessed by melting, or dissociating, the hydrate, producing gas
and water. The primary driving force to initiate hydrate dissocia-
tion is depressurization, which forces the hydrate to become ther-
modynamically unstable. The depressurization is also the driving
force that draws the methane out of the reservoir, into the well-
bore, and, ultimately, to the surface (Liu et al., 2008; Nazridoust
and Ahmadi, 2007). Dissociation of the solid hydrate frees up addi-
tional pore space in the system, which has a massive effect on the
hydrodynamics of the reservoir and therefore the rate of gas
production. To obtain a better understanding of methane produc-
tion from hydrate reservoirs, development of numerical simulation
tools to predict gas and water flow patterns in the reservoir is
needed. The major challenge in developing two- or three-
dimensional reliable governing equations and simulation code is
that the hydrate reservoirs are unconsolidated. Current available
reservoir simulators are based on consolidated reservoirs and are
not applicable to hydrate reservoirs. The presence of gas hydrate
contributes substantively to the strength of the sediment matrix,
such that the sands subsequently behave as unconsolidated sedi-
ment and result in continuous variation in porosity and permeabil-
ity or interfacial drag between gas, water, hydrate, and sand
particle phases. In addition, overburden pressure on the sediment
with decreased strength from hydrate dissociation causes continu-
ous axial deformation. This complicated behavior of gas production
from hydrate reservoirs creates a unique research opportunity for
chemical engineers to play a major role in multidisciplinary
research to develop realistic and reliable interfacial force, and heat
and mass transfer between the four gas, water, hydrate, and solid
phases during hydrate dissociation. Furthermore, there is also a
need to continue developing comprehensive models and numerical
codes for four-phase flow to predict reliable gas production esti-
mates from hydrate reservoirs.
Recently a team of researchers at IIT developed a novel produc-
tion numerical simulator that captures the four-phase flow behav-
ior of gas, water, sand, and hydrate in an unconsolidated gas
hydrate reservoir with some simplifying assumptions such as
equal temperature for all phases and incorporation of two-
parameter interfacial forces developed based on log and produc-
tion data to describe gas production from the JOGMEC Mallik 2L-
38 well in Alaska (Dallimore, 2008). Additionally, our constitutive
model quantifies the pore-scale inhomogeneities and simulates
the evolution of high-permeability regions in the reservoir. Fig. 7
shows our model prediction of permeability inhomogeneities after
18 h of gas, water, and sand production from the Mallik well in
Alaska. Our model considers variation in flow parameters including
concentration and interfacial forces parameters (permeability)
between gas, water, hydrate, and sand particle phases due to
hydrate dissociation and sand movement and/or production.
Fig. 8 shows the increase in effective permeability due to sand pro-
duction and hydrate dissociation. This figure clearly demonstrates
the domination of hydrate dissociation in the early hours of pro-
duction. After that, the sand production effect becomes more
pronounced.
2.8. Renewable energy
The primary energy source of the future sustainable world is
expected to be solar. Wind, geothermal, and biofuel will play a sec-
ondary role, and other energy sources including fossil and nuclear
are expected to play a supporting role as needed.
There are three sub-areas of solar energy in which chemical
engineers can provide a leadership role or significantly contribute
to multidisciplinary research and development. The first one is to
continue to conduct more research in solar cell materials to
increase the efficiency and performance of solar cells based on
nano or other technologies (Macco et al., 2018; Brew et al., 2017;
Hages et al., 2016). The second one is the efficient development
of innovative mixtures of fluid and particles using, for example, flu-
idized bed processes to efficiently transfer heat for steam produc-
tion for electricity generation or other applications (Tregambi et al.,
2016; Matsubara et al., 2014). Fig. 9 shows a schematic diagram of
a conceptual novel heat transfer mechanism from concentrated
solar power. Our heat transfer fluidized bed reactor will have no
tubes for heat removal, therefore eliminating erosion and reducing
cost by orders of magnitude. In this system, gas enters the bottom
 H. Arastoopour / Chemical Engineering Science 203 (2019) 247–258
Fig. 7. IIT model prediction of permeability inhomogeneities after 18 h of production.
Fig. 8. Increase in effective permeability due to sand production and hydrate
dissociation.
of the fluidized bed through a distributor, specially designed to
eliminate the large bubbles that cause gas bypassing and loss of
particles by entrainment. Inside our proposed single/multi-stage
fluidized bed, blackbody particles receive concentrated solar
power, while the gas directly removes the heat from the high-
temperature particles. After passing through a cyclone to remove
any particles, hot gas will enter a gas turbine to generate electric
power. The gas from the turbine will be recycled through the flu-
idized bed. The direct contact between the gas stream and the
hot particles significantly improves the performance and efficiency
of the process.
The third sub-area of solar energy in which chemical engineers
must be the leaders in research and development is: the use of con-
centrated solar energy (CSE) in chemical, pharmaceutical, and bio-
logical processes. Hirsch and Steinfeld (2004) produced hydrogen
by thermal decomposition of natural gas using CSE. Weldekiddan
et al. (2018) and Zeaiter et al. (2018) used CSE for pyrolysis of
biomass and waste tires.
255
Additional research opportunities exist for chemical engineers
to study the effect of the environment (rain, snow, and icing) on
power generation from solar cells (Andenaes et al., 2018) and from
wind turbines (Arastoopour and Cohen, 2017).
Geothermal energy is heat derived below the Earth’s surface
and can be harnessed to generate clean, renewable energy. This
energy may be used by chemical engineers in chemical, pharma-
ceutical, and biological processes that need a lower level of heat
or energy, such as desalination.
2.9. Energy storage
Without a way to store energy for later use, intermittent renew-
able energy will struggle to replace fossil fuels in our route to a sus-
tainable economy and sustainable growth. Thus, energy storage
plays a key role in achieving a society with renewable energy as
a primary source of energy. Energy could be stored in the form of
electrons (rechargeable batteries and supercapacitors), in the form
of molecules (large-scale pumped hydro-power and air, hydrogen,
or natural gas storage), and in the form of thermal and mechanical
energy (flywheels and thermal storage).
Batteries and electrochemical storage devices across multiple
scales are expected to provide high-energy-density, high-power
storage devices with long cycle lives. Chemical engineers are in a
unique position to advance battery energy storage by focusing
research on materials and enhancing the performance of: lithium
ion (Ashuri et al., 2016; Wang et al., 2010), lithium air (Asadi
et al., 2018), and flow batteries (Milshtein et al., 2017). In addition,
there is much room for research in developing non-lithium-based
battery technology, specifically the sodium-ion battery, because
of the abundance and low cost of sodium (Wang et al., 2015;
Sawicki and Shaw, 2015).
Energy storage in the form of molecules of hydrogen using
mixed metal hydrides has shown good potential in terms of higher
capacity for hydrogen sorption and also a higher rate of sorption
and desorption at all temperature ranges in comparison with other
available materials; however, more research is needed to further
develop metal hydrides and/or materials with better performance.
256 H. Arastoopour / Chemical Engineering Science 203 (2019) 247–258
Fig. 9. Schematic diagram of a conceptual novel heat transfer mechanism from concentrated solar power.
Methane storage can be accomplished in three ways: com-
pressed natural gas (CNG) with low capacity and fast discharge;
adsorbed natural gas (ANG) with higher capacity and low rate of
desorption; and liquefied natural gas (LNG) with very high capacity
and high cost, with some challenges in handling, transportation,
and safety. For transportation applications, a hybrid of CNG and
ANG provides both higher capacity and faster rate of release.
Fig. 10 shows our experimental data on comparisons between
capacities of methane storage using compressed gas with adsorbed
gas on activated carbon at different pressures. Our experimental
data clearly showed that adsorbed methane on activated carbon
has more than twice the capacity of compressed methane.
For gas transmission and distribution, a hybrid of all three stor-
age technologies is needed to provide storage capacity and the rate
of gas released or stored that is needed for the gas grid and its syn-
chronization with the electricity grid, with utilities as the major
natural gas consumers. Chemical engineering researchers have a
great opportunity to advance this area by conducting research in
a multidisciplinary team on natural gas adsorption fundamentals
and developing new materials with higher capacity and sufficiently
high rates of sorption and desorption.
80
70
Storage capacity (Vs / Vb)
60
50 Adsorbed Methane
40
30
20
Compressed Methane
10
0 advance this area in a multidisciplinary team by using their exper-
0 100 200 300 400 500
Pressure (psig)
Fig. 10. Comparison between capacities of methane storage using compressed gas
with adsorbed gas on activated carbon at different pressures.
2.10. Hydrogen economy
Hydrogen is considered the non-carbon, molecular-based
energy carrier of the future. Today, energy carriers such as electric-
ity and natural gas are used to move, store, and deliver energy in a
form that can be easily used. Hydrogen can be used as a fuel with
no negative impact on climate change for residential and commer-
cial applications, including using fuel cells for generating electric-
ity. The major challenge is the production of energy-carrier
hydrogen from sustainable and economically feasible processes
using renewable energy sources.
Reforming and partial oxidation of methane, methanol, and
ethanol using catalysts are among the processes that are frequently
used for the production of hydrogen or syngas for use in fuel cell
applications (Sengodan et al., 2018). However, reforming and par-
tial oxidation results in the production of CO2, which is not sustain-
able. Various biomass sources, such as sludge from waste water,
algae, and agricultural and municipal wastes, can be used as poten-
tially low-cost substrates for bio-hydrogen production, which will
not result in an increase in carbon above the Earth’s surface (Fang
and Zhang, 2004; Wang and Yin, 2018).
Another approach could be the use of concentrated solar energy
and catalysts at high temperature to dissociate carbon dioxide and
water into carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which can be used as
fuel without increasing carbon above the Earth’s surface (Chueh
et al., 2010). The concentrated solar energy may also be used
potentially for cracking natural gas to produce hydrogen gas and
solid carbon (Ozalp et al., 2018). The most sustainable production
of hydrogen is via splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen (solar
thermal water splitting, STWS) using solar energy (Fletcher and
Moen, 1977; Ni et al., 2007; Ahmad et al., 2015). Muhich et al.
(2013) showed that two-step thermochemical water splitting
based on the metal oxide reduction and oxidation (redox) cycle
could be carried out isothermally using a low-cost iron aluminate
redox active material at 1350 °C to produce an appreciable amount
of hydrogen provided by concentrated solar energy.
Chemical engineering researchers are in an excellent position to
tise in transport phenomena, chemical reaction engineering, and
process design and scale-up in the development of economically
feasible large-scale processes for the production of hydrogen using
renewable energy.
 H. Arastoopour / Chemical Engineering Science 203 (2019) 247–258
3. Conclusion
A unique opportunity exists for chemical engineers to take
advantage of their knowledge and understanding of the systems
approach and advances in experimental measurement and compu-
tational tools, including artificial intelligence, neural networks,
computational transport phenomena (CTP), and molecular dynam-
ics, to make chemical engineering one of the leading disciplines in
research and development areas toward the creation of a future
sustainable world.
Application of concentrated solar energy in chemical, pharma-
ceutical, and biological processes, process intensification, carbon
capture and utilization, biofuels, and water management and
desalination are the areas in which chemical engineers must take
a leadership role in research and development in contributing to
a pathway to sustainability.
Chemical engineers must also be one of the major drivers of
research and development in multidisciplinary teams in the areas
of energy storage, advanced materials for photovoltaics, material
recycling, natural gas production and conversion, CO2 sequestra-
tion, and issues related to renewable energy in developing our
pathway to a sustainable economy.
Finally, chemical engineers should participate in large-scale
multidisciplinary initiatives such as sustainable cities and the jour-
ney toward a carbon-emission-free world, not only by capturing
carbon, but also by reducing CO2 production (e.g., urban farming
and energy conservation).
Declaration of interests
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to
influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgement
Thanks to my mentor, the late professor Henry R. Linden, who
introduced me to the challenges in the energy and sustainability
area, my colleagues, past and present students, and WISER assis-
tant director Margaret Murphy for their contributions.
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