The fields of sustainable chemistry and engineering address the dual challenge of maintaining chemical innovation while meeting global sustainability imperatives. The chemical sector contributes approximately 5-7% of global greenhouse gas emissions and influences the environmental footprint of nearly every manufacturing industry. Recent years have seen rapid advances in chemistry and engineering to address these challenges. For example, enzyme engineering and directed evolution have produced stable and highly selective biocatalysts that enable greener transformations under mild conditions. Photo- and electrocatalysis are creating new opportunities for small-molecule activation, including CO2 reduction, N2 fixation and H2O oxidation. Advances in energy materials are enabling more efficient energy conversion, storage and utilisation. Computational chemistry and machine learning are accelerating catalyst discovery and process optimisation, while advances in pollutant remediation, particularly for PFAS and microplastics, are expanding the scope of sustainable chemistry.
This Research Topic aims to bring together advances across the molecular, materials and engineering aspects of sustainable chemistry. It welcomes contributions across both fundamental and applied research in sustainable chemistry and engineering. The Topic also aims to foster collaboration between chemists, chemical engineers and environmental scientists to address key challenges in sustainable chemistry and engineering.
To further advance this convergence of chemistry and engineering for a circular future, we welcome contributions that address, but are not limited to, the following themes:
• Green catalysis and biocatalysis: enzymatic and chemoenzymatic cascades, enzyme immobilisation and reuse, artificial metalloenzymes, and catalyst design for industrial translation
Pollutant degradation and bioremediation: catalytic and biological treatment of emerging contaminants (PFAS, antibiotic residues, dyes and microplastics), and mechanistic studies of degradation pathways and products
• Sustainable synthetic methodologies: solvent-free and aqueous systems, mechanochemistry, continuous-flow and low-waste synthesis
• Renewable feedstocks and the carbon cycle: biomass valorisation, CO2 capture and utilisation, hydrogen-related catalysis, and carbon-neutral pathways
• Circular materials chemistry: recycling and upcycling of polymers, design of degradable and recyclable materials, and recovery of critical elements
• Process engineering and assessment tools: process intensification, scale-up, life cycle assessment (LCA), techno-economic analysis (TEA), and green chemistry metrics
• Data-driven sustainability: machine-learning-assisted catalyst and route design, and integration of digital tools for sustainable process optimisation
Article types and fees
This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:
- Editorial
- FAIR² Data
- Mini Review
- Original Research
- Perspective
- Review
Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.
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Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
