Green Chemical Engineering for a Net-Zero Future: Integrating Circular Economy Principles with a Sustainable Process Design

Abstract

The growing urgency to achieve climate neutrality and resource-efficient industrial development has positioned green and low-carbon chemical engineering at the center of global sustainability efforts. Although significant advances have been made in circular economy (CE) strategies, renewable feedstocks, carbon management, and process decarbonization, these developments are often examined independently, resulting in a fragmented understanding of their collective potential for sustainable chemical manufacturing. This perspective addresses this gap by providing an integrated assessment of CE principles and low-carbon process engineering strategies that support the transition from conventional linear production systems to circular and carbon-neutral manufacturing frameworks. The perspective examines key CE approaches, including material circularity, industrial symbiosis, resource recovery, and circular product design, alongside challenges related to technological maturity, economic feasibility, and industrial implementation. Recent advances in renewable and circular feedstocks, including biomass, agroindustrial residues, plastic waste, captured CO2, and waste gases, are critically evaluated as alternative carbon resources. Low-carbon process design strategies such as process intensification, electrification, heat integration, and hybrid thermal-electrochemical systems are assessed with respect to their decarbonization potential, scalability, and industrial relevance. The perspective further analyzes developments in green catalysis, photocatalysis, electrocatalysis, biocatalysis, sustainable separation technologies, and circular bioprocessing systems. Particular emphasis is placed on carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), green hydrogen integration, renewable energy deployment, and digitalization through machine learning, digital twins, and real-time process optimization. The complementary roles of life-cycle assessment (LCA) and techno-economic analysis (TEA) are also discussed as essential tools for evaluating environmental and economic sustainability. Unlike previous perspectives that focus on individual technological domains, this Perspective provides a unified framework linking circular economy principles, low-carbon technologies, carbon management, and digital intelligence within a single roadmap for carbon-neutral chemical manufacturing. The synthesis identifies critical technological bottlenecks, implementation challenges, and future research priorities while highlighting opportunities for cross-sector integration and industrial deployment. The findings provide actionable insights for researchers, industry practitioners, and policymakers seeking to accelerate the transition toward resilient, resource-efficient, and low-carbon chemical production systems.