He’s new publication lays the foundation for using waste to capture emissions at scale

Teaching Assistant Professor Jiajun He and mechanical engineering PhD student Beomhui Lee recently published work from He’s ongoing efforts to develop carbon materials from organic waste in Environmental Science & Technology. This publication comes on the heels of his recent article in Separation and Purification Technology that demonstrated carbon dioxide capture using fruit peels.

“Instead of only asking, ‘Does this material capture carbon dioxide well?’ we ask, ‘Does it actually reduce emissions once we account for cost, energy use, and scale?’” He said of the study.

He found that carbon materials made from waste such as sawdust, agricultural residues, or municipal solid waste will offset the carbon dioxide emitted during their own production within one to four days when implemented in a realistic carbon capture system. After that time, these materials can provide net benefits by continuously removing carbon dioxide from flue gas. Furthermore, if the electricity used during production comes from a renewable source, the overall climate impact associated with manufacturing these materials can be reduced by up to 72%, making the approach both environmentally and economically promising at large scale.

“By combining experimental adsorption data with life-cycle and techno-economic analysis, [our] work provides a complete picture of feasibility, showing that waste-derived activated carbons are not just scientifically interesting, but practically deployable,” He said. “The fact that these materials can offset their own emissions so quickly strongly supports the idea of circular carbon capture, where waste becomes part of the climate solution rather than part of the problem.”

As his study continues, He aims to improve scalability and further reduce production-related costs and emissions with the goal of moving from proof-of-concept toward actionable pathways for large-scale, sustainable carbon capture that aligns with real industrial and waste management systems.  

“[We will] explore alternative activation methods that reduce reliance on expensive chemicals, the integration of renewable energy directly into the production process, and the optimization of system design for specific industrial settings,” He said. “More broadly, [our] framework can be extended to new waste streams and emerging carbon capture materials to help guide smarter decisions about where and how carbon capture technologies should be deployed.”