Quantifying Environmental and Economic Impacts of Highly Porous Activated Carbon from Lignocellulosic Biomass for High-Performance Supercapacitors

Yuxi Wang, Jingxin Wang, Xufeng Zhang, Debangsu Bhattacharyya and Edward M. Sabolsky
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Yuxi Wang: Division of Forestry and Natural Resources, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA
Jingxin Wang: Division of Forestry and Natural Resources, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA
Xufeng Zhang: Division of Forestry and Natural Resources, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA
Debangsu Bhattacharyya: Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA
Edward M. Sabolsky: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-19

Abstract: Activated carbons (AC) from lignocellulosic biomass feedstocks are used in a broad range of applications, especially for electrochemical devices such as supercapacitor electrodes. Limited studies of environmental and economic impacts for AC supercapacitor production have been conducted. Thus, this paper evaluated the environmental and economic impacts of AC produced from lignocellulosic biomass for energy-storage purposes. The life cycle assessment (LCA) was employed to quantify the potential environmental impacts associated with AC production via the proposed processes including feedstock establishment, harvest, transport, storage, and in-plant production. A techno-economic model was constructed to analyze the economic feasibility of AC production, which included the processes in the proposed technology, as well as the required facility installation and management. A base case, together with two alternative scenarios of KOH-reuse and steam processes for carbon activation, were evaluated for both environmental and economic impacts, while the uncertainty of the net present value (NPV) of the AC production was examined with seven economic indicators. Our results indicated that overall “in-plant production” process presented the highest environmental impacts. Normalized results of the life-cycle impact assessment showed that the AC production had environmental impacts mainly on the carcinogenics, ecotoxicity, and non-carcinogenics categories. We then further focused on life cycle analysis from raw biomass delivery to plant gate, the results showed that “feedstock establishment” had the most significant environmental impact, ranging from 50.3% to 85.2%. For an activated carbon plant producing 3000 kg AC per day in the base case, the capital cost would be USD 6.66 million, and annual operation cost was found to be USD 15.46 million. The required selling price (RSP) of AC was USD 16.79 per kg, with the discounted payback period (DPB) of 9.98 years. Alternative cases of KOH-reuse and steam processes had GHG emissions of 15.4 kg CO 2 eq and 10.2 kg CO 2 eq for every 1 kg of activated carbon, respectively. Monte Carlo simulation showed 49.96% of the probability for an investment to be profitable in activated carbon production from lignocellulosic biomass for supercapacitor electrodes.

Keywords: lignocellulosic biomass; activated carbon; supercapacitor electrodes; environmental impacts; economic feasibility; bioproducts (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: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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