Process and energy systems are mainly developed in the chemical, metallurgical, nuclear and petroleum industries. In these systems, raw materials are continuously processed to generate new substances through the flows of matter, energy and information. Accordingly, they are characterized by multiple, long-length and coupled chemical & physical reactions and digital transformations. Furthermore, the main material flows in process and energy systems are of high velocity, pressure and temperature, and especially with serious flammable, explosive and toxic features, that can incur bad loss of human, economy and environment. Conclusively, it is urgent and necessary to break the barriers of integrated security-safety control in the process and energy systems.

To break the barriers of integrated security-safety control in the process and energy systems, some theoretical and practical problems need to be addressed as following:
1) “Five Flows” as composition of process and energy systems: material flow, energy flow, digitization flow, cyber information dissemination flow, decision-to-execution control flow;
2) From the viewpoint of five flows, formation verification, and multi-spatial-temporal, multi-source and multi-scale features extraction of risk related to cyber-security and physical-safety issues in the process and energy systems;
3) Dynamics and evolution of multi-spatial-temporal, multi-source, and multi-scale cyber-security and physical-safety risks into accidents like fire, explosion, and toxic release along the process and energy systems;
4) Coupling mechanism between physical device malfunction and cyber information attack that causing the failure of process and energy systems;
5) “Three Nos” as ways of loss prevention in the process and energy systems: No out-of-orders for material flow and energy flow, no distortions for digitization flow and cyber information dissemination flow, and no faults for decision-to-execution control flow.

Herein, we put forward a Research Topic “Process and Energy Systems Security-Safety”. And we hope that the research findings will help us to highlight the latest advances on integrated security-safety control of the process and energy systems and outline possible issues that need to be further explored to better provide a solid scientific basis and technological support for the sustainable and natural development of process and energy systems. The research topics include, while not limited to:
• Literature reviews related to integrated security-safety control in the process and energy systems;
• Case studies/applications of integrated security-safety control;
• Models, methods, and technologies of integrated security-safety control;
• Process hazards assessment considering cyber security and physical safety together;
• Inherent cyber security and physical safety in the process and energy systems;
• Process fault detection, diagnosis, and pre-warning;
• Alarm analysis, prediction, and management in the process and energy systems.
• Decarbonization, such as use of hydrogen, high level of electrification, heat pumps, storage tanks and smart operation, CO2 capture and sequestration.

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Frontiers in Energy Research

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