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BIOMASS-DERIVED ACTIVATED CARBON THROUGH SELF-ACTIVATION
PROCESS
Changlei Xia
PhD Dissertation Defense
Monday, March 14th, 2016
10:00 – 12:00
Discovery Park, Room A131, College of Engineering Conference Room
Abstract
Self-activation is a process that takes advantage of the gases emitted from the
pyrolysis process of biomass to activate the converted carbon. The pyrolytic gases from
the biomass contain CO2 and H2O, which can be used as activating agents. As two
common methods, both of physical activation using CO2 and chemical activation using
ZnCl2 introduce additional gas (CO2) or chemical (ZnCl2), in which the CO2 emission
from the activation process or the zinc compound removal by acid from the follow-up
process will cause environmental concerns. In comparison with these conventional
activation processes, the self-activation process could avoid the cost of activating
agents and is more environmentally friendly, since the exhaust gases (CO and H 2) can
be used as fuel or feedstock for the further synthesis in methanol production. In this
research, many types of biomass were successfully converted into activated carbon
through the self-activation process, including kenaf core, kenaf fiber, sugarcane
bagasse, sugarcane leaf, coconut fiber, peanut shell, sawdust, and pine wood. A novel
activation model was developed to describe the changes of specific surface area and
pore volume during the activation process. The relationships between the activating
temperature, dwelling time, yield, specific surface area, and specific pore volume were
detailed investigated using the kenaf core, kenaf fiber and pine wood as raw materials.
The highest specific surface area and pore volume of the biomass-derived activated
carbon through the self-activation process were up to 2738 m2 g-1 and 2.209 cm3 g-1,
respectively. Moreover, the applications of the activated carbons from the self-activation
process have been studied, including lithium-ion battery (LIB) manufacturing, water
cleaning, oil absorption, and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding.