(500b) Production of High Surface Area Activated Carbon from Fast Pyrolysis Biomass Char By Chemical Methods

Production of high surface area activated carbon from fast pyrolysis biomass char by chemical methods

Yan Luo, Vamshi Krishna Guda, Philip H. Steele

Department of Sustainable Bioproducts, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762, United States

Dave C. Swalm School of Chemical Engineering, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762, United States

Currently, activated carbon is produced mostly from coal with some produced from petroleum coking. Development of bioproducts from non-fossil fuel resources is now a national focus area. Biomass char has a potential to produce activated carbon as the same qualities that current by attained from petroleum. Fast pyrolysis char has a surface area approximately 200 m²/g without any treatments.

In this study, four types of fast pyrolysis char, including pine wood, bamboo, switch-grass and giant miscanthus char were applied to prepare activated carbon by chemical methods. KOH, H₂O₂ and H₃PO₄ were applied to the pyrolysis char to attempt to increase surface area. The weight ratio of the char to chemical activator was 1:1. The surface areas of all activated carbon prepared from the four types of fast pyrolysis char were increased dramatically at an activation temperature of 750 ^oC for 1 h at a heating rate of 5 ^oC/min. Activated carbon with the highest surface area was prepared from KOH-treated fast pyrolysis char. Following KOH treatment, the surface area of pine wood, bamboo, switch-grass and giant miscanthus char were increased to 1124.4, 1200.0, 1432.7 and 1435.8 m²/g, respectively.