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In the 1960s and 1970s, China’s petrochemical industry entered a period of rapid development, and the problem of volatilization of oil and gas became increasingly prominent at every stage—from production, storage, and transportation to sales. Huang Weiqiu, who was a master’s student at the time, turned his research interests to the field of oil and gas recovery. Over the more than 30 years of research work that followed, he focused on finding efficient ways to \"capture\" these invisible oil and gas substances. He was the first in China to conduct systematic research on oil evaporation losses, achieving a recovery rate of over 99% for such oil and gas. “What has helped me overcome countless research challenges is my sense of responsibility to contribute to my country, my passion for environmental protection, and my commitment to empowering future generations. ”Upon receiving the \"Innovation Award\" at the 17th Hou Debang Chemical Science and Technology Award, Huang Weiqiu, who is now a professor at the School of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering at Changzhou University, said, \"As long as the direction is correct and the determination is firm, there are no obstacles that cannot be overcome.\" ” Conduct research based on **needs: As the volume of oil circulation and the number of intermediate steps increase, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) also take the opportunity to escape into the air. “VOCs are important precursors in the formation of photochemical smog, elevated ozone levels, and organic aerosols; they also contribute to haze and the greenhouse effect. Therefore, hydrocarbon recovery is no longer a ‘optional choice,’ but rather a ‘mandatory requirement’ for achieving the ‘dual carbon’ goals and safeguarding people’s health. ”Huang Weiqiu pointed out. In the 1980s, Huang Weiqiu established a scientific and technological innovation team focused on \"Fundamental Theories and Applications of Oil and Gas Recovery\" to conduct research on the control of organic waste gas pollution and its recycling, with oil and gas recovery as a key focus. Through practical experience, he found that domestic oil and gas recovery technologies faced issues such as insufficient theoretical support, low recovery efficiency, and poor adaptability of equipment, which led him to resolve to delve deeply into this field. Over the next 30-plus years, Huang Weiqiu devoted himself to scientific research. Despite numerous difficulties, he achieved several “firsts” in China: he was the first to systematically categorize oil and gas recovery methods into absorption, adsorption, condensation, and membrane processes, thereby establishing a industry standard ； For the first time, a testing platform for oil evaporation losses and recovery was established, along with evaluation software developed ； Create the only large-scale explosion-proof wind tunnel platform in this field that is equipped with advanced facilities and allows for adjustable speed and temperature ； Contributed to the development of the first **Comprehensive Emission Standards for Air Pollutants**, introducing for the first time in China the key environmental indicator of \"total hydrocarbons other than methane\" ； Initiated and chaired the first international seminar in China on oil and gas emissions and recovery. The team he founded was also selected as an outstanding science and technology innovation team under Jiangsu Province’s “Qing Lan Project” for universities. To facilitate the effective transformation of scientific and technological achievements, in 2013, Huang Weiqiu led a team to establish Changzhou Yixuan Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd. in Changzhou Science and Education City. As a high-tech enterprise and an important base for industry-university-research collaboration at Changzhou University, it has established together with the university a \"Jiangsu Province Postgraduate Workstation\" and an \"Oil and Gas Recovery Engineering Technology Research Center\", enabling comprehensive efforts in talent development, scientific research, and industrialization cooperation; it has also won the first prize in the China Industry-University-Research Collaboration Innovation Award. Innovation driven by industry challenges: Addressing the long-standing issues in the oil and gas recovery industry, such as weak theoretical foundations, insufficient material properties, low level of process integration, and high operating costs, Huang Weiqiu led his team to carry out systematic innovations, creating a comprehensive framework that encompasses theory, technology, management, and application, thereby enabling efficient recovery of oil and gas. In the past, the paths by which oil and gas escaped from storage tanks were not clear, and Huang Weiqiu’s team was determined to create a map of these invisible pathways. They developed a comprehensive theoretical framework for evaluating the mechanisms of oil and gas evaporation emissions and leakage diffusion, established a large-scale explosion-proof wind tunnel testing platform with adjustable speed and temperature controls, and solved the world-class challenge of quantifying convective mass transfer coefficients. This has provided a basis for assessing VOC emissions and carbon footprints in the petrochemical industry, as well as for environmental protection and safety management. Faced with core challenges such as insufficient performance of adsorption materials and poor adaptability of the devices, the team focused its innovation efforts on material design and structural optimization, developing three new types of functional adsorption materials: highly hydrophobic silicon-based materials, highly thermally conductive carbon-based materials, and MOF materials with high adsorption capacity, tailored for various oil and gas emission scenarios. For special hydrocarbons such as those with high humidity and low carbon hydrocarbons, the team’s cryogenic process featuring three-stage progressive cooling optimization, along with LNG co-recovery technology, enables efficient and energy-saving recovery at temperature ranges of -165°C to -100°C. From the molecular structure of microscopic materials to the process design of macroscopic devices, this series of innovations has laid a solid foundation for the efficient recovery of oil and gas. As environmental standards become increasingly stringent and emission scenarios grow more complex, existing installations struggle to meet the emission requirements. In response to this, Huang Weiqiu’s team developed a modular and customizable recycling technology system, achieving a leap in oil and gas emission concentrations from \"grams\" to \"milligrams\". For various operating conditions such as high concentrations, high humidity, and large concentration fluctuations, the team has developed multiple modular integrated processes including \"dual condensation + adsorption\" and \"absorption + adsorption + condensation\", enabling \"precise customization\" for different oil and gas emission scenarios. The third-generation integrated recycling device they have developed incorporates advanced modules such as dual-channel multi-stage condensation and multi-functional adsorption/desorption, as well as a mobile phone-based online monitoring module, enabling efficient energy use, ultra-low emissions, and intelligent, timely responses. This technical system has been applied to oil and gas recovery in commercial storage tanks, refineries, and other facilities, helping partner companies reduce carbon emissions by approximately 5.3 million tons over the past three years. The related technologies have won the First Prize of the Jiangsu Province Science and Technology Award, the First Prize of the China Chemical Society’s Science and Technology Progress Award, the First Prize of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation’s Technical Invention Award, and other honors. Cultivating a noble character through practical education: As the leader of the key discipline in petroleum and natural gas engineering in Jiangsu Province, Huang Weiqiu has always given top priority to talent development alongside his research efforts. He developed a team development model based on \"task-driven approaches plus hierarchical team building,\" turning over 250 research projects, both vertical and horizontal, into \"practical training platforms\" for students. His graduate student, Li Xufei, kept pace with the progress of the team’s projects while focusing on the development of functional adsorption materials. Li Xufei recalled, “During the Spring Festival holiday, Teacher Huang helped me revise and polish my **National Natural Science Foundation application. We worked until 2 or 3 a.m., going through nearly 20 drafts before we were able to submit the application successfully.” ”Today, Li Xufei remains at the university as a teacher, becoming a new force within the team. Despite being nearly 60 years old, Huang Weiqiu continues to work hard at the front line of scientific research. He Zhanhou, deputy director of the Oil and Gas Technology Research Institute at Changqing Oilfield, and others were deeply impressed by this: “Professor Huang always led the teams in person, braving the scorching heat in summer and the severe cold in winter to conduct experiments at production sites in Shaanxi, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, and other places.” He often drives by himself, carrying research equipment, traveling thousands of miles back and forth. ” “\"No pain, no gain\" is Huang Weiqiu’s motto, and it also reflects the reality of his journey in scientific research. The project titled “Evaluation system for complex oil and gas evaporative emissions, key technologies for efficient and customized recovery, and their applications,” completed by Huang Weiqiu’s team, also won the Special Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress at the 2025 China Environmental Protection Federation Awards.