Engineering Research Center of Basin Carbon Neutrality, Ministry of Education, Nanchang University

The Engineering Research Center of Basin Carbon Neutrality, Ministry of Education, Nanchang University was approved for establishment in September 2022. Aimed at addressing the major national strategy of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality and the demand for building a highland of ecological civilization in Jiangxi Province, the center focuses on Poyang Lake and its basin, targets the R&D and engineering application of key technologies in the field of basin carbon neutrality, and prioritizes breakthroughs in four research directions: conjugated soil and habitat construction, water-carbon coupling and synergistic pollution and carbon reduction, ecological carbon sink enhancement and value realization, as well as zero-carbon technology and digital twin. It strives to connect the technological innovation chain of basin carbon neutrality from basic technical principles to key technology R&D, system integration and engineering application, so as to support the construction of Nanchang University’s Double First-Class discipline in basin carbon neutrality and serve the achievement of national and local dual-carbon strategic goals.

The center currently has 58 researchers, including 22 professors and professor-level senior engineers, and 26 associate professors and senior engineers. The talent team includes 1 academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, 1 chief scientist of the national "973 Program", 2 national high-level talents, 8 recipients of the Jiangxi "Double Thousand Plan", and 6 winners of the Jiangxi Provincial Outstanding Youth Fund.

1. Conjugated Soil and Habitat Construction

   Soil is a precious natural resource and production factor, as well as a huge carbon reservoir. Traditional soil improvement and remediation technologies are difficult to achieve the unity of opposites of multiple different soil properties at the same time, leading to many engineering failures. Conjugated soil technology aims to synchronously change the hydrophilicity, hydrophobicity and cementation of soil through bio-based surfactant materials, targetedly construct soil habitats for specific scenarios and foster hydrophobic conjugated ecosystems.

2. Water-Carbon Coupling and Synergistic Pollution and Carbon Reduction

   The safety of the aquatic ecological environment is the cornerstone of the high-quality development of the Poyang Lake Basin. Aiming at the bottlenecks and pain points in the natural carbon metabolism of water, soil, air and organisms in the Poyang Lake Basin, this research direction focuses on the R&D of key technologies such as basin water-carbon monitoring, coupled simulation and early warning of basin hydrology, water quality and aquatic ecology, basin carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus pollution control, as well as microalgae carbon neutralization and high-value utilization.

3. Ecological Carbon Sink Enhancement and Value Realization

   For damaged or fragile ecosystems, carry out precise restoration and reconstruction of the mountain-river-forest-farmland-lake-grass-sand system, and break through technologies for the coordinated improvement of ecological enhanced carbon sink and ecological product supply capacity; establish an integrated carbon sink observation network system of remote sensing and ground measurement, and break through the precise assessment technology of regional ecosystem carbon sinks; build a digital technology system and diversified value realization paths of regional ecological products based on carbon sinks, and break through the precise and overall value realization technology of ecological products.

4. Zero-Carbon Technology and Digital Twin

   The carbon neutrality transformation of river basins is a typical "Big Engineering". It not only requires the breakthrough of key technologies in important nodes and links, but also needs systematic engineering methods and technologies leading economic and social changes, including the analysis, evaluation, optimization and integration of carbon neutrality technology clusters in the energy, industrial and ecological fields. This research direction focuses on breaking through engineering technologies such as multi-energy complementarity and technology integration on the energy supply side, multi-industry low-carbon, zero-carbon and negative-carbon technologies and system integration, as well as the digital twin of carbon neutrality in the Poyang Lake Basin.