Conversion of Agricultural Waste Streams into Value Added Products

MRS Advances ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (36) ◽  
pp. 2137-2142
Author(s):  
Kofi W. Adu ◽  
Paul Armstrong ◽  
Lucas Servera ◽  
David K. Essumang ◽  
Samuel Y. Mensah

ABSTRACTMuch of the global agricultural by products go waste, especially in developing nations where much of their revenues depend on the exports of raw agricultural products. Such waste streams, if converted to “value added” products could serve as additional source of revenue while simultaneously having a positive impact on the socio-economic well being of the people. We present a preliminary investigation on utilizing chemical activation technique and ball milling to convert agricultural waste streams such as cocoa pod, coconut husk, palm midrib and calabash commonly found in Ghana into ultra-high surface area activated carbon. Such activated carbons are suitable for myriads of applications in environmental remediation, climate management, energy storage and conversion systems (batteries and supercapacitors), and improving crop productivity. We achieved BET surface area as high as ∼ 3000 m2/g.

2015 ◽  
Vol 735 ◽  
pp. 36-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noor Shawal Nasri ◽  
Hatijah Basri ◽  
Abdurrahman Garba ◽  
Usman Dadum Hamza ◽  
Jibril Mohammed ◽  
...  

The abundant fraction of agricultural waste materials in the environment that poses disposal challenge could be converted into useful value added products such as activated carbon. Palm oil shell based carbon was prepared by two step process using K2CO3 as the chemical activant. The Langmuir surface area, BET surface area and pore volume were 817 m2/g, 707m2/g and 0.31cm3/g. From the FTIR analysis, carbonyls, alkenes and hydroxyls were identified. The SEM image shows gradual formation of pores due to elimination of volatiles and contaminants. Carbonization at 800°C for 2 hours and activation at same temperature for 1h has the highest yield of 23.27%. The proximate and ultimate analysis shows high percentage of carbon and low percentage of ash which is an indication of a good material for production of porous carbon. The activated carbon produced showed basic properties suitable for removal of organic contaminants in aqueous solutions. However, the aim of this study is to produce a green and porous carbon with controlled pores and surface properties for organic contaminants removal from water and wastewater.


2014 ◽  
Vol 699 ◽  
pp. 87-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdul Rahim Yacob ◽  
Adlina Azmi ◽  
Mohd Khairul Asyraf Amat Mustajab

The characteristics and quality of activated carbons prepared depending on the chemical and physical properties of the starting materials and the activation method used. In this study, activated carbon prepared using pineapple waste. Three parts of pineapple waste which comprises of peel, crown and leaf were studied. For comparison activated carbon were prepared by both physical and chemical activation respectively. Three types of chemicals were used, phosphoric acid (H3PO4), sulphuric acid (H2SO4), and potassium hydroxide (KOH). The preparation includes carbonization at 200°C and activation at the 400°C using muffle furnace. The chemical characterization of the activated carbon was carried out using Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Nitrogen gas adsorption analysis and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR). The highest BET surface area was achieved when the pineapple peel soaked in 20% phosphoric acid with a surface area of 1115 m2g-1. FTIR analysis indicates that the reacted pineapple waste successfully converted into activated carbons.


2014 ◽  
Vol 881-883 ◽  
pp. 579-583 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ling Zhi Chen ◽  
Dong Xu Miao ◽  
Xiao Jie Feng ◽  
Jian Zhong Xu

Activated carbons (AC) were produced by chemical activation with potassium hydroxide (KOH) at 800°C from chars that were carbonized from reedy grass leaves at 450°C in N2atmosphere. The effects of the weight ratio of KOH/char ( impregnation ratio), activation temperature and duration time were examined. Adsorption capacity was demonstrated with iodine number. BET surface area, pore volume and pore size of activated carbons were characterized by N2adsorption isotherms. The maximum surface area and iodine number of the AC was 1100 m2/g and 1080 mg/g produced at 800°C for2h and impregnation ratio is 4:1.The characteristics of activated carbons were determined by Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Thermal gravimetry (TG/DTA) analysis of raw material was carried out.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. G. Herawan ◽  
M. S. Hadi ◽  
Md. R. Ayob ◽  
A. Putra

Activated carbons can be produced from different precursors, including coals of different ranks, and lignocellulosic materials, by physical or chemical activation processes. The objective of this paper is to characterize oil-palm shells, as a biomass byproduct from palm-oil mills which were converted into activated carbons by nitrogen pyrolysis followed by CO2activation. The effects of no holding peak pyrolysis temperature on the physical characteristics of the activated carbons are studied. The BET surface area of the activated carbon is investigated using N2adsorption at 77 K with selected temperatures of 500, 600, and 700°C. These pyrolysis conditions for preparing the activated carbons are found to yield higher BET surface area at a pyrolysis temperature of 700°C compared to selected commercial activated carbon. The activated carbons thus result in well-developed porosities and predominantly microporosities. By using this activation method, significant improvement can be obtained in the surface characteristics of the activated carbons. Thus this study shows that the preparation time can be shortened while better results of activated carbon can be produced.


2011 ◽  
Vol 704-705 ◽  
pp. 517-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao Juan Jin ◽  
Zhi Ming Yu ◽  
Gao Jiang Yan ◽  
Wu Yu

Activated carbons were prepared through chemical activation of lignin from straw pulping precursor using potassium carbonate as the chemical agent. Effects of activated temperature, K2CO3/lignin ratio and the activated time on the yield, Iodine number of activated carbon were investigated. Experimental results indicated that the optimum conditions were as follow: activated temperature 800°C, K3CO3(40% concentration) /lignin ratio 5: l, activated time 50min. These conditions allowed us to obtain a BET surface area of 1104 m2/g, including the external or non-microporous surface of 417 m2/g,Amount of methylene blue adsorption, Iodine number and the yield of activated carbon prepared under optimum conditions were 10.6mL/0.lg,1310 mg/g and 19.75%, respectively.


2014 ◽  
Vol 875-877 ◽  
pp. 1585-1589
Author(s):  
Arenst Andreas Arie ◽  
Joong Kee Lee

Activated carbons were prepared from coconut shell by chemical activation method and utilized as electrode materials for electrochemical double layer capacitor (EDLC). A preliminary characteristic of activated carbon from coconut shell includes the Brunnaeur Emmett Teller (BET) analysis and cyclic voltammetry measurements. The BET surface area is not affected by the variation of activation temperature as both of the samples showed BET surface area of about 850-870 m2g-1. The N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms showed that the sample exhibited type I characteristics according to IUPAC classification, which confirms its micro-porosity. Compared with the un-activated carbon samples, the activated ones exhibited the better electrochemical properties with a specific capacitance of 150 F g−1 at a scan rate of 2 mV s−1. The good performance of activated carbon is attributed to the enhancement of surface area due to the KOH pretreatment which can open new pores accessible for the ionic transport


2011 ◽  
Vol 236-238 ◽  
pp. 225-228
Author(s):  
Xing Min Wang ◽  
Long Jun Xu ◽  
Jiang He Xu ◽  
Gui Zhi Zhang ◽  
Shao Bo Wu

High surface area activated carbon was prepared from waste tobacco after extracting nicotine with microbial enzymatic and chemical activation. Surface properties of the prepared carbons were performed using nitrogen adsorption, and the adsorption behavior of the prepared carbons under different operation conditions on methyl orange was investigated by a batch adsorption experiment. The experimental results show that: using waste tobacco 5.0035g and white- rot fungi volume is 2.0ml, under the conditions of enzymatic time of 36h, activation temperature at 600°C and activation time of 2h, the concentration of ZnCl2 activation is 20%,The BET surface area of carbons prepared reach 1356.53m2/g, the average aperture is3.78nm, and the hole dimension is0.17 ml/g. The adsorption amount on methyl orange of 43mg/L reach 4979.31mg/g, and it show high adsorption capacity.


2015 ◽  
Vol 773-774 ◽  
pp. 1127-1132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdurrahman Garba ◽  
Hatijah Basri ◽  
Noor Shawal Nasri

The large quantity of agricultural waste materials that poses disposal challenge to our environment could be converted into useful products such as activated carbon (AC). Palm oil shell based porous AC was prepared by two step process using KOH as the chemical activant. Palm oil shell was carbonized at 800°C for 2 hours and activated using CO2 at same temperature for 1 hour which yield 23.27% fixed carbon. The AC was characterized by Langmuir surface area, BET surface area and pore volume of 410.7 m2/g, 350 m2/g and 0.2 cm3/g respectively, the FTIR analysis identified the presence of alkanes, carbonyls and hydroxyls as the main functional groups in the AC. Scanning electron microscopy images illustrates the gradual formation of pores from the precursor to the produced AC due to elimination of volatiles and contaminants in the material. However, the AC produced showed basic properties suitable for the removal of hydrophobic organic contaminants in water and wastewater.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (11) ◽  
pp. 6-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Funda Ateş ◽  
Öznur Özcan

Activated carbons were prepared from poplar sawdust by chemical activation using ZnCl2, H3PO4 or KOH. The influence of activating agents, carbonization temperatures ranging from 500 ºC to 800 ºC, and mass ratio of chemical agent to precursor (1:1 and 2:1) on the porosity of activated carbons were studied. The properties of the carbons were characterized by adsorption/desorption of nitrogen to determine the BET areas, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). It was determined that the surface morphology and textural characteristics of activated carbons vary depending on the carbonization temperature or chemical agent. Maximum surface areas were obtained at carbonization temperatures of 500, 700 and 800 ºC for H3PO4, KOH and ZnCl2 activation, respectively. The activated carbons prepared using ZnCl2 and H3PO4 activation had a higher BET surface area (nearly 1100 m2/g) than that of the KOH activation (761 m2/g). This study also presents a comparison of mechanisms of activating agents and carbonization temperature. As a result of the experimental studies, positive results were obtained, and the production of activated carbon with a high surface area was conducted. 


2015 ◽  
Vol 799-800 ◽  
pp. 47-51
Author(s):  
M.S. Mohammed Yahya ◽  
Jeyashelly Andas ◽  
Ghani Zaidi Ab

In this study, highly porous activated carbon was prepared fromCyrtospermachamissonispetioles via single step H3PO4activation. The effect of impregnation temperature (RT – 90 °C) on the yield, porosity and surface area was investigated. The synthesized activated carbons were characterized by Na2S2O3volumetric method, SEM/EDX and N2adsorption-desorption analyses. The optimization investigation clearly showed that the impregnation temperature affected on the yield and the specific surface area of the materials. Under the optimum impregnation temperature of 75 °C, the registered iodine number and BET surface area were 1129.23 mgg-1and 1390.41 m2g-1respectively with yield percentage of 35.82. This preliminary study proves the successful conversion of plant waste into value added porous materials.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document