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. 2020 Feb 13;10(1):2563.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-59481-7.

The production and application of carbon nanomaterials from high alkali silicate herbaceous biomass

Ahmed I Osman  1   2 , Charlie Farrell  3   4 , Ala'a H Al-Muhtaseb  5 , John Harrison  3 , David W Rooney  6
Affiliations

The production and application of carbon nanomaterials from high alkali silicate herbaceous biomass

Ahmed I Osman et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Herein, value-added materials such as activated carbon and carbon nanotubes were synthesized from low-value Miscanthus × giganteus lignocellulosic biomass. A significant drawback of using Miscanthus in an energy application is the melting during the combustion due to its high alkali silicate content. An application of an alternative approach was proposed herein for synthesis of activated carbon from Miscanthus × giganteus, where the produced activated carbon possessed a high surface area and pore volume of 0.92 cm3.g-1 after two activation steps using phosphoric acid and potassium hydroxide. The SBET of the raw biomass, after first activation and second activation methods showed 17, 1142 and 1368 m2.g-1, respectively. Transforming this otherwise waste material into a useful product where its material properties can be utilized is an example of promoting the circular economy by valorising waste lignocellulosic biomass to widely sought-after high surface area activated carbon and subsequently, unconventional multi-walled carbon nanotubes. This was achieved when the activated carbon produced was mixed with nitrogen-based material and iron precursor, where it produced hydrophilic multi-wall carbon nanotubes with a contact angle of θ = 9.88°, compared to the raw biomass. synthesised materials were tested in heavy metal removal tests using a lead solution, where the maximum lead absorption was observed for sample AC-K, with a 90% removal capacity after the first hour of testing. The synthesis of these up-cycled materials can have potential opportunities in the areas of wastewater treatment or other activated carbon/carbon nanotube end uses with a rapid cycle time.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
XRD patterns of samples of activated carbon using firstly phosphoric acid (AC-P) and secondly using potassium hydroxide (KOH) along with the Carbon nanotubes (CNTs).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms at 77 K of samples of activated carbon using firstly phosphoric acid (AC-P) and secondly using potassium hydroxide (KOH) along with the Carbon nanotubes (CNTs).
Figure 3
Figure 3
SEM images for (a) H3PO4 activation (AC-P), (b) KOH activation (AC-K) and (c) CNTs at different levels of magnification using ETD detector.
Figure 4
Figure 4
TEM images for (a) activated carbon (AC-K) and (b) CNTs.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The water contact angle analysis of DMP (a) and the produced CNTs (b) along with the FT-IR of the CNTs (c).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Thermal analysis of DMP (a) TGA-DTG curves under the N2 atmosphere, (b) DSC curves with different heating rates under air atmosphere along with (c) the calculated ignition, burnout temperatures and heat liberated during the combustion of DMP.
Figure 7
Figure 7
The heavy metal removal test of lead on AC-P, AC-K along with the CNTs in a 168 hour test.
Figure 8
Figure 8
SEM- EDX analysis of lead activated carbon (a) ETD image (b) BSED image, (c) carbon map, (d) lead map and (e) EDX results.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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