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Preparation of activated carbon through the pyrolysis of waste bamboo chips and evaluation of its CO2 adsorption efficacy

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Abstract

To mitigate the environmental impact of forestry waste, this study presents an innovative approach to convert waste bamboo chips (WB) into high-value activated carbon via pyrolysis, followed by KOH activation of the resulting semi-coke (SC). This process produces activated carbon with an exceptionally high specific surface area, suitable for CO2 adsorption applications. We employed comprehensive thermogravimetric analysis (TG), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) to characterize the pyrolysis behavior and reaction kinetics of WB. The primary mass loss in WB pyrolysis, amounting to 82.8 wt.%, occurs during devolatilization at 270–430 °C. The Coats-Redfern method estimates an average activation energy of 64.2 kJ/mol. The pyrolysis gas predominantly comprises carbon-containing components. Optimal activation with a KOH-to-biochar ratio of 2:1 yielded activated carbon with a surface area of 2883 m2/g. This activated carbon demonstrated a maximum CO2 adsorption capacity of 4.14 mmol/g. The successful application of WB pyrolysis products in bioenergy illustrates its potential for diverse environmental applications.

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All data included in this study are available upon request by contact with the corresponding author.

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Funding

Key R&D Special Project of Hubei Provincial Technology Innovation Plan in 2023 (Social Development Field) (Grants No. 2023BCB038 and 111 Project Grant No. B17019).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chemistry College in Central China Normal University, Wuhan, 430079, China

    Zhengshun Wu, Yufei Liu, Yonghui Xu, Wei Zhan, Yiyun Liu, Dingle Zhang & Yi Xu

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  1. Zhengshun Wu
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  2. Yufei Liu
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Contributions

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that the descriptions are accurate and agreed by all authors, the role(s) of all authors are as follows:

Yonghui Xu: resources, data curation.

Wei Zhan: software calculation.

Yiyun Liu: writing—reviewing and editing.

Dingle Zhang: visualization, investigation, project administration.

Yi Xu: project administration.

Zhengshun Wu: supervision and formal analysis.

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Correspondence to Zhengshun Wu.

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Wu, Z., Liu, Y., Xu, Y. et al. Preparation of activated carbon through the pyrolysis of waste bamboo chips and evaluation of its CO2 adsorption efficacy. Biomass Conv. Bioref. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-024-05735-7

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