Valorization of Biomass Hydrolysis Waste: Activated Carbon from Humins as Exceptional Sorbent for Wastewater Treatment

Shimin Kang, Jinxia Fu, Zhituan Deng, Shaohui Jiang, Guoyu Zhong, Yongjun Xu, Jianfeng Guo and Jingwen Zhou
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Shimin Kang: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Distributed Energy Systems, Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan 511700, China
Jinxia Fu: Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
Zhituan Deng: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Distributed Energy Systems, Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan 511700, China
Shaohui Jiang: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Distributed Energy Systems, Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan 511700, China
Guoyu Zhong: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Distributed Energy Systems, Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan 511700, China
Yongjun Xu: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Distributed Energy Systems, Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan 511700, China
Jianfeng Guo: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Distributed Energy Systems, Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan 511700, China
Jingwen Zhou: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Distributed Energy Systems, Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan 511700, China

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 6, 1-19

Abstract: Humins, waste from biomass hydrolysis, are the main factor limiting the utilization efficiency of biomass carbon. In the present study, waste humins were employed for activated carbon production though KOH activation in a temperature range of 500–900 °C. The structure and properties of the activated carbons were studied, and a honeycomb-like macropore structure was observed. High activation temperature was demonstrated to be capable of promoting the formation of activated carbon with high surface area, high pore volume and high adsorption capacity. The activated carbon obtained by carbonization at 800 °C (KOH800) was selected as sorbent to adsorb methylene blue (MB) and phenol in aqueous solution, and the adsorption process can be explained by pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The adsorption behavior complies with Langmuir isotherm model and exhibits superior adsorption capacity of 1195 and 218 mg/g for MB and phenol, respectively. The impacts of surface area, acidic active sites and pore structures were also investigated, and it was found that the adsorption of approximately 44.0% MB and 39.7% phenol were contributed by the pores with apertures from 1.7 nm to 300 nm.

Keywords: humins; biomass hydrolysis; activated carbon; phenol; methylene blue (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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