Center for electrification and decarbonization of industry

Research summary

Addressing climate change will require decarbonizing the industries which manufacture the products essential to modern life. All told, industry is responsible for a staggering 33% of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with the lion’s share due to four specific products: cement, steel, ammonia, and ethylene. These four industrial pillars of society are together responsible for 45% of industrial CO2 emissions. We propose an innovation hub that will unify the efforts of different research groups, departments, and schools within MIT, as well as a broad range of external stakeholders. This new Center for Electrification and Decarbonization of Industry will carry out targeted fundamental research with urgency and engineering that pushes the technological envelope on electricity-driven chemical transformations. We will aim to transition the most promising projects to full commercialization within five years.

Leadership team

Yet-Ming Chiang

Yet-Ming Chiang is the Kyocera Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. His research focuses on advanced materials and their role in clean energy. An expert in materials science and battery technology, he serves on a number of government and academic advisory committees and has co-founded four companies based on research from his MIT laboratory.

Bilge Yildiz

Bilge Yildiz is the Breene M. Kerr (1951) Professor in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering and professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Her research centers on the science and technology of materials development for energy conversion applications in harsh environments. In 2021, she was named a fellow of the American Physical Society.