Preparation and characterization of chars and activated carbons from wood wastes

Abstract

Preparation of activated carbons from wood waste including northern hardwood pins-fines and wood dust was conducted and then compared through the following methods: physical pyrolysis and CO₂ activation, vacuum pyrolysis and CO₂ activation, CO₂ gasification, and vacuum CO₂ gasification processes. Experimental results show that chars and activated carbons with high surface area and pore volume are produced from wood waste through a vacuum CO₂ pyrolysis/gasification process. The effects of operation variables of vacuum pyrolysis/gasification on the properties of chars and activated carbons were investigated to identify and optimize the temperature, heating time, and heating rate. The optimized vacuum CO₂ gasification conditions were found to be a temperature of 800 °C, a heating rate of 20 °C/min, and a holding time of 2 h respectively. The prepared wood-chars and activated carbons were characterized by nitrogen physisorption, scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra determined any changes in the surface functional groups produced during different preparation stages.

Citation

Yan, Qiangu; Li, Jinghao; Cai, Zhiyong. 2021. Preparation and characterization of chars and activated carbons from wood wastes. Carbon Letters. 31(5): 941-956. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42823-020-00205-2.