Comparison of Novel Biochars and Steam Activated Carbon from Mixed Conifer Mill Residues

Nathaniel Anderson, Hongmei Gu and Richard Bergman
Additional contact information
Nathaniel Anderson: United States Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, 800 East Beckwith Avenue, Missoula, MT 59801, USA
Hongmei Gu: United States Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, 1 Gifford Pinchot Drive, Madison, WI 53726, USA
Richard Bergman: United States Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, 1 Gifford Pinchot Drive, Madison, WI 53726, USA

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 24, 1-19

Abstract: There is increasing demand in environmental remediation and other sectors for specialized sorbents made from renewable materials rather than hard coals and minerals. The proliferation of new pyrolysis technologies to produce bio-based energy, fuels, chemicals, and bioproducts from biomass has left significant gaps in our understanding of how the various carbonaceous materials produced by these systems respond to processes intended to improve their adsorption properties and commercial value. This study used conventional steam activation in an industrial rotary calciner to produce activated carbon (AC) from softwood biochars made by three novel pyrolysis systems. Steam was injected across four heating zones ranging from 816 °C to 927 °C during paired trials conducted at calciner retention times of 45 min and 60 min. The surface area of the three biochars increased from 2.0, 177.3, and 289.1 m 2 g −1 to 868.4, 1092.9, and 744.8 m 2 g −1 , respectively. AC iodine number ranged from 951 to 1218 mg g −1 , comparing favorably to commercial AC produced from bituminous coal and coconut shell. The results of this study can be used to operationalize steam activation as a post-processing treatment for biochar and to expand markets for biochar as a precursor in the manufacture of specialized industrial sorbents.

Keywords: activated carbon; biochar; woody biomass; pyrolysis; steam activation; adsorbent (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/24/8472/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/24/8472/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:24:p:8472-:d:703084

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().