Modification of biomass-derived biochar: A practical approach towards development of sustainable CO2 adsorbent

Carbonaceous materials are among the most appropriate and widely used materials in the field of energy production, conversion, and storage. According to recent studies, biochar-based catalytic supports and adsorbents have shown great potential in the fields of energy production and the adsorption and storage of various gases due to their adjustable surface chemistry and porosity. In the present study, the pyrolysis of peanut shell to produce activated carbon as a precursor for catalyst support was investigated. Acid washing pretreatment was performed on raw biomass before pyrolysis to remove metals and impurities and reduce the ash content of the biomass. Before pyrolysis, thermogravimetric analysis was performed to determine the temperature range of biomass thermal decomposition. Pyrolysis was carried out at temperatures of 300, 400, and 500 °C to study the effect of pyrolysis temperature on biochar yield. KOH-activation on biochar was followed by subsequent pyrolysis at 650 °C to produce activated carbon. To study the effect of pyrolysis temperature and KOH activation on the structural and physiochemical characteristics of biochar, nitrogen adsorption/desorption and FTIR analyses were conducted. The pore size of the activated carbon surface changed from mesoporous to microporous with increasing the pyrolysis temperature and subsequent KOH activation, and the biochar specific surface area increased from 3.5 to 363.1 m2 g-1. In order to evaluate and optimize the operating conditions of the biochar and syngas production processes on larger scales, the integrated pyrolysis and gasification processes were simulated in Aspen Plus software. The effects of temperature, pressure, and air to biomass ratio on biochar production rate and H2/CO ratio were evaluated. A temperature of 650 °C, a pressure of 1 bar and an air to biomass ratio of 0.1 were selected as optimum operating conditions to simultaneously achieve maximum biochar production and maintain the quality of synthetic gas. The findings of the experimental and simulation sections of this study could provide a useful guide for the industrial-scale production of biochar and activated carbon as a catalytic support in various chemical production processes, as well as a water polutant adsorbent and gas adsorbent for various gas purification and storage processes. 

Experimental and simulation study of peanut shell-derived activated carbon and syngas production via integrated pyrolysis-gasification technique

A comprehensive outlook on topical processing methods for biofuel production and its thermal applications: Current advances, sustainability and challenges

Banana pseudo-stem biochar derived from slow and fast pyrolysis process

Using readily available biomass, it is possible to produce fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) at a low cost. This study focused on the transesterification process of waste frying vegetable oil to generate FAME (biodiesel) using a cost‐effective heterogeneous nano‐catalyst synthesized from waste cow teeth (CT). The cow teeth nano‐catalyst (CTNC) was synthesized via a three‐step method of calcination, hydration‐dehydration, and re‐calcination. The synthesized CTNC samples were characterized. The Box–Behnken design of response surface methodology (RSM) was used to obtain the optimal operating conditions that maximize the FAME yield (Y 1 ) and the effects of the transesterification process conditions on FAME production. The results revealed that CTNC is of microporous structure with higher crystallinity. It consists of hydroxyapatite, beta‐tricalcium phosphate, and calcium oxide, having a mean particle size of 43.96 nm, a specific surface area of 124.77 m 2 /g, and a pore volume of 0.303 cm 3 /g. The process conditions that significantly influenced the EWFVOME yield were the CTNC loading, reaction time, and MTOR. A maximum of 98.70% (Y 1 ) was obtained at the optimum transesterification process variables of reaction time (2 h), MTOR (12:1), and CTNC loading (3.75 wt%). The biodiesel fuel properties were found to be within the acceptable values of ASTM D6751 and EN 14214 fuel standards.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1002/eng2.12605

Synthesized heterogeneous nano‐catalyst from cow teeth for fatty acid methyl esters production through transesterification of waste vegetable frying oil and methanol: Characterization and optimization studies

Developing an effective cleaner process technology for maize-cob biomass wastes is of utmost importance. This work involved the comparison of products yield (bio-oil, biogas, and biochar) from the ...

Comparison of the slow, fast, and flash pyrolysis of recycled maize-cob biomass waste, box-benhken process optimization and characterization studies for the thermal fast pyrolysis production of bio-energy

B. E. Eboibi

Papers

Comparison of the slow, fast, and flash pyrolysis of recycled maize-cob biomass waste, box-benhken process optimization and characterization studies for the thermal fast pyrolysis production of bio-energy