Fabrication of coconut shell-derived porous carbons for CO₂ adsorption application

Abstract

Biomass-derived porous carbons have been considered as the most potential candidate for effective CO₂ adsorbent thanks to being widely-available precursor and having highly porous structure and stable chemical/physical features. However, the biomass-derived porous carbons still suffer from the poor optimization process in terms of the synthesis conditions. Herein, we have successfully fabricated coconut shell-derived porous carbon by a simple one-step synthesis process. The as-prepared carbon exhibits advanced textual activity together with well-designed micropore morphology and possesses oxygen-containing functional groups (reached 18.81 wt %) within the carbon matrix. Depending on the different activating temperatures (from 700 to 800 °C) and KOH/biomass mass ratios (from 0.3 to 1), the 750 °C and 0.5 mass ratio were found to be enabling the highest CO₂ capture performance. The optimal adsorbent was achieved a high CO₂ uptake capacity of 5.92 and 4.15 mmol·g⁻¹ at 0 and 25 °C (1 bar), respectively. More importantly, as-prepared carbon adsorbent exhibited moderate isosteric heat of adsorption and high CO₂/N₂ selectivity. The results were revealed not only the textural feature but also the surface functional groups critically determine the CO₂ capture performance, indicating coconut shell-derived porous carbon has a considerable potential as a solid-state adsorbent for the CO₂ capture.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

porous carbons / CO₂ adsorption / KOH activation / single step reaction / biomass

References

[1] Ma C, Lu T, Shao J, Huang J, Hu X, Wang L. Biomass derived nitrogen and sulfur co-doped porous carbons for efficient CO₂ adsorption. Separation and Purification Technology, 2022, 281: 119899

[2] Ratajczak P, Suss M E, Kaasik F, Beguin F. Carbon electrodes for capacitive technologies. Energy Storage Materials, 2019, 16: 126–145

[3] Wang Y F, Zou S J, Hu W P, Wu F F, Yang J X, Cen Y Y, Yang D X, Hou Z Q, Huang K J. Biomass-derived graphene-like carbon nanoflakes for advanced supercapacitor and hydrogen evolution reaction. Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 2022, 928: 167176

[4] Gao W R, Lin Z X, Chen H R, Yan S S, Huang Y, Hu X, Zhang S. A review on N-doped biochar for enhanced water treatment and emerging applications. Fuel Processing Technology, 2022, 237: 107468

[5] He L, Weniger F, Neumann H, Beller M. Synthesis, characterization, and application of metal nanoparticles supported on nitrogen-doped carbon: catalysis beyond electrochemistry. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2016, 55(41): 12582–12594

[6] Das O, Bhattacharyya D, Hui D, Lau K T. Mechanical and flammability characterisations of biochar/polypropylene biocomposites. Composites Part B: Engineering, 2016, 106: 120–128

[7] Idrees M, Jeelani S, Rangari V. Three-dimensional-printed sustainable biochar-recycled PET composites. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2018, 6(11): 13940–13948

[8] Li S Y, Li X Y, Chen C C, Wang H Y, Deng Q Y, Gong M, Li D G. Development of electrically conductive nano bamboo charcoal/ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene composites with a segregated network. Composites Science and Technology, 2016, 132: 31–37

[9] Shi S, Liu Y. Nitrogen-doped activated carbons derived from microalgae pyrolysis byproducts by microwave/KOH activation for CO₂ adsorption. Fuel, 2021, 306: 121762

[10] Shen S, Shi X, Li C, Guo H, Long Q, Wang S, Yin X. Nonaqueous (amine + glycol ether) solvents for energy-efficient CO₂ capture: new insights into phase change behaviors and assessment of capture performance. Separation and Purification Technology, 2022, 300: 121908

[11] Millward A R, Yaghi O M. Metal−organic frameworks with exceptionally high capacity for storage of carbon dioxide at room temperature. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2005, 127(51): 17998–17999

[12] Chatterjee S, Jeevanandham S, Mukherjee M, Vo D V N, Mishra V. Significance of re-engineered zeolites in climate mitigation—a review for carbon capture and separation. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 2021, 9(5): 105957

[13] Sun L B, Kang Y H, Shi Y Q, Jiang Y, Liu X Q. Highly selective capture of the greenhouse gas CO₂ in polymers. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2015, 3(12): 3077–3085

[14] Sang Y, Cao Y, Wang L, Yan W, Chen T, Huang J, Liu Y N. N-rich porous organic polymers based on Schiff base reaction for CO₂ capture and mercury(II) adsorption. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 2021, 587: 121–130

[15] Yan H Y, Zhang G J, Xu Y, Zhang Q Q, Liu J, Li G Q, Zhao Y Q, Wang Y, Zhang Y F. High CO₂ adsorption on amine-functionalized improved macro-/mesoporous multimodal pore silica. Fuel, 2022, 315: 123195

[16] Zhang G, Zhao P, Hao L, Xu Y, Cheng H. A novel amine double functionalized adsorbent for carbon dioxide capture using original mesoporous silica molecular sieves as support. Separation and Purification Technology, 2019, 209: 516–527

[17] Wang Y, Kang C, Zhang Z, Usadi A K, Calabro D C, Baugh L S, Di Yuan Y, Zhao D. Evaluation of Schif-base covalent organic frameworks for CO₂ capture: structure-performance relationships, stability, and performance under wet conditions. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2022, 1(10): 332–341

[18] Wang J, Zhang P, Liu L, Zhang Y, Yang J, Zeng Z, Deng S. Controllable synthesis of bifunctional porous carbon for efficient gas-mixture separation and high-performance supercapacitor. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2018, 348: 57–66

[19] Shao J, Ma C, Zhao J, Wang L, Hu X. Effective nitrogen and sulfur co-doped porous carbonaceous CO₂ adsorbents derived from amino acid. Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, 2022, 632: 127750

[20] Huang J, Bai J, Demir M, Hu X, Jiang Z, Wang L. Efficient N-doped porous carbonaceous CO₂ adsorbents derived from commercial urea-formaldehyde resin. Energy & Fuels, 2022, 36(11): 5825–5832

[21] Qie Z P, Wang L J, Sun F, Xiang H, Wang H, Gao J H, Zhao G B, Fan X L. Tuning porosity of coal-derived activated carbons for CO₂ adsorption. Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering, 2022, 16(9): 1345–1354

[22] Wang Y X, Hu X D, Guo T, Hao J, Si C D, Guo Q J. Efficient CO₂ adsorption and mechanism on nitrogen-doped porous carbons. Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering, 2021, 15(3): 493–504

[23] Wang H, Wang H, Liu G, Yan Q. In-situ pyrolysis of Taihu blue algae biomass as appealing porous carbon adsorbent for CO₂ capture: role of the intrinsic N. Science of the Total Environment, 2021, 771: 145424

[24] Ma C, Bai J, Demir M, Hu X, Liu S, Wang L. Water chestnut shell-derived N/S-doped porous carbons and their applications in CO₂ adsorption and supercapacitor. Fuel, 2022, 326: 125119

[25] Guo L, Yang J, Hu G, Hu X, Wang L, Dong Y, DaCosta H, Fan M. Role of hydrogen peroxide preoxidizing on CO₂ adsorption of nitrogen-doped carbons produced from coconut shell. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2016, 4(5): 2806–2813

[26] Tsai W T, Jiang T J. Mesoporous activated carbon produced from coconut shell using a single-step physical activation process. Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery, 2018, 8(3): 711–718

[27] Mi J, Wang X R, Fan R J, Qu W H, Li W C. Coconut-shell-based porous carbons with a tunable micro/mesopore ratio for high-performance supercapacitors. Energy & Fuels, 2012, 26(8): 5321–5329

[28] Lin T, Chen W, Wang L L. Particle properties in granular activated carbon filter during drinking water treatment. Journal of Environmental Sciences (China), 2010, 22(5): 681–688

[29] Yorgun S, Yildiz D. Preparation and characterization of activated carbons from Paulownia wood by chemical activation with H₃PO₄. Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers, 2015, 53: 122–131

[30] Singh G, Ruban A M, Geng X, Vinu A. Recognizing the potential of K-salts, apart from KOH, for generating porous carbons using chemical activation. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2023, 451: 139045

[31] Aghel B, Behaein S, Alobiad F. CO₂ capture from biogas by biomass-based adsorbents: a review. Fuel, 2022, 328: 125276

[32] Himeno S, Komatsu T, Fujita S. High-pressure adsorption equilibria of methane and carbon dioxide on several activated carbons. Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data, 2005, 50(2): 369–376

[33] Ello A S, de Souza L K C, Trokourey A, Jaroniec M. Coconut shell-based microporous carbons for CO₂ capture. Microporous and Mesoporous Materials, 2013, 180: 280–283

[34] Vargas D P, Giraldo L, Silvestre-Albero J, Moreno-Pirajan J C. CO₂ adsorption on binderless activated carbon monoliths. Adsorption, 2011, 17(3): 497–504

[35] Prauchner M J, Oliveira S D, Rodriguez-Reinoso F. Tailoring low-cost granular activated carbons intended for CO₂ adsorption. Frontiers in Chemistry, 2020, 8: 581133

[36] Yang J, Yue L, Hu X, Wang L, Zhao Y, Lin Y, Sun Y, DaCosta H, Guo L. Efficient CO₂ capture by porous carbons derived from coconut shell. Energy & Fuels, 2017, 31(4): 4287–4293

[37] Li D W, Wang Y, Zhang X X, Zhou J J, Yang Y H, Zhang Z B, Wei L, Tian Y Y, Zhao X B. Effects of compacting activated carbons on their volumetric CO₂ adsorption performance. Fuel, 2020, 262: 116540

[38] Liu Y Z, Wang H, Li C C, Wang S H, Li L, Song C W, Wang T H. Hierarchical flaky porous carbon derived from waste polyimide film for high-performance aqueous supercapacitor electrodes. International Journal of Energy Research, 2022, 46(1): 370–382

[39] Wang D B, Geng Z, Li B, Zhang C M. High performance electrode materials for electric double-layer capacitors based on biomass-derived activated carbons. Electrochimica Acta, 2015, 173: 377–384

[40] Subramanian N, Viswanathan B. Nitrogen- and oxygen-containing activated carbons from sucrose for electrochemical supercapacitor applications. RSC Advances, 2015, 5(77): 63000–63011

[41] Lu T, Ma C, Demir M, Yu Q, Aghamohammadi P, Wang L, Hu X. One-pot synthesis of potassium benzoate-derived porous carbon for CO₂ capture and supercapacitor application. Separation and Purification Technology, 2022, 301: 122053

[42] Sevilla M, Fuertes A B. Sustainable porous carbons with a superior performance for CO₂ capture. Energy & Environmental Science, 2011, 4(5): 1765–1771

[43] Ma X C, Yang Y H, Wu Q D, Liu B G, Li D P, Chen R F, Wang C H, Li H L, Zeng Z, Li L Q. Underlying mechanism of CO₂ uptake onto biomass-based porous carbons: do adsorbents capture CO₂ chiefly through narrow micropores?. Fuel, 2020, 282: 282

[44] Sui Z Y, Cui Y, Zhu J H, Han B H. Preparation of three-dimensional graphene oxide-polyethylenimine porous materials as dye and gas adsorbents. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2013, 5(18): 9172–9179

[45] Furukawa H, Yaghi O M. Storage of hydrogen, methane, and carbon dioxide in highly porous covalent organic frameworks for clean energy applications. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2009, 131(25): 8875–8883

[46] Ben T, Li Y, Zhu L, Zhang D, Cao D, Xiang Z, Yao X, Qiu S. Selective adsorption of carbon dioxide by carbonized porous aromatic framework (PAF). Energy & Environmental Science, 2012, 5(8): 8370–8376

[47] Zhang Y, Wei Z Q, Liu X, Liu F, Yan Z H, Zhou S Y, Wang J, Deng S G. Synthesis of palm sheath derived-porous carbon for selective CO₂ adsorption. RSC Advances, 2022, 12(14): 8592–8599

[48] Yang Z X, Guo X F, Zhang G J, Xu Y. One-pot synthesis of high N-doped porous carbons derived from a N-rich oil palm biomass residue in low temperature for CO₂ capture. International Journal of Energy Research, 2020, 44(6): 4875–4887

[49] Lu T, Bai J, Demir M, Hu X, Huang J, Wang L. Synthesis of potassium Bitartrate-derived porous carbon via a facile and Self-Activating strategy for CO₂ adsorption application. Separation and Purification Technology, 2022, 296: 121368

[50] Ma C, Bai J, Hu X, Jiang Z, Wang L. Nitrogen-doped porous carbons from polyacrylonitrile fiber as effective CO₂ adsorbents. Journal of Environmental Sciences (China), 2023, 125: 533–543

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

Higher Education Press