Sugarcane Bagasse-Derived Activated Carbon as a Potential Material for Lead Ions Removal from Aqueous Solution and Supercapacitor Energy Storage Application

Wuttichai Somyanonthanakun, Agata Greszta, Alexander J. Roberts () and Sirikanjana Thongmee ()
Additional contact information
Wuttichai Somyanonthanakun: Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand
Agata Greszta: Clean Growth and Future Mobility, Coventry University, Coventry CV1 5FB, UK
Alexander J. Roberts: Clean Growth and Future Mobility, Coventry University, Coventry CV1 5FB, UK
Sirikanjana Thongmee: Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 6, 1-21

Abstract: Sugarcane bagasse-based activated carbon (AC) was produced via a physical activation method using CO 2 , to remove lead (Pb) ions from an aqueous solution. The physical and chemical properties of ACs were examined by scanning electron micrograph (SEM), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis. The effect of both pH and contact time on adsorption was studied via a batch process. Based on the BET results, we have identified that BET surface area and micropore volume decreased at the highest activation temperature, while the intensity of the functional groups increased when the activation temperature was raised. The adsorption isotherms were best fitted with the Langmuir equation, which was used to describe the adsorption process and to examine the adsorption mechanisms of Pb(II) on the AC. The maximum adsorption capacity of Pb(II) was 60.24 mg g −1 with AC850. The adsorption kinetic study closely followed the pseudo-second order (R 2 > 0.99). AC has the potential to economically remove metal ions in the purification process of wastewater. AC850 was also utilized in the manufacture and testing of pouch cell supercapacitors to demonstrate the potential of the sugarcane bagasse family of materials in energy storage applications. The devices made with the unmodified, nonoptimized material used for Pb(II) sorption demonstrated high rate and power-energy characteristics (>50% capacitance retention with 10-fold increase in current density, 10 Wh Kg −1 at 2500 W Kg −1 , active material mass) but there remains a need for further optimization, particularly the removal of oxygen functionality, to enhance lifetime and specific capacitance. This work demonstrated the potential for sugarcane bagasse carbons across environmental applications.

Keywords: sugarcane bagasse; activated carbon; lead removal; supercapacitors; energy storage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/6/5566/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/6/5566/ (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:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:6:p:5566-:d:1103979

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

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