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Valorization of humins by phosphoric acid activation for activated carbon production

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Abstract

Humins, the solid wastes from biomass acid hydrolysis, were value-added applied for activated carbon production through the phosphoric acid activation method with pyrolysis temperature ranging from 300 to 700 °C. Studies on structure and properties found that pyrolysis temperature is a key factor affecting pore formation of activated carbons. A good yield of 51.4 wt%, high BET surface area of 2375 m2/g, Barrett-Joyner-Halenda (BJH) pore volume of 0.88 cm3/g, and an excellent Langmuir adsorption capacity of 1125 mg/g on methylene blue (MB) were obtained under the preferred temperature of 400 °C (AC400). The adsorption of MB was well explained by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model, and the adsorption behavior complied with Langmuir isotherm model. Dichloromethane (DCM) was found a most effective extractant in AC400 regeneration by using Soxhlet apparatus. A comparable adsorption capacity of 680 mg/g MB was maintained for the fifth reusing of the AC400, illustrating the application potential of humins valorization for biomass residues recycling industry.

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Funding

This article was made possible by Grant Number 21606045 from the National Natural Science Foundation of China and by Grant Number 2017A030313084 from the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province of China, and Guangdong Innovation Research Team for Higher Education (2017KCXTD030).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Distributed Energy Systems, Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan, Guangdong, China

    Shimin Kang, Shaohui Jiang, Zhezhe Peng, Jianfeng Guo, Jianwen Li, Wanxiang Zeng & Xiaoyuan Lin

  2. School of Food and Biological Engineering, Xihua University, Chengdu, China

    Yue Lu

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  1. Shimin Kang
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  2. Shaohui Jiang
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  4. Yue Lu
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Correspondence to Yue Lu.

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Kang, S., Jiang, S., Peng, Z. et al. Valorization of humins by phosphoric acid activation for activated carbon production. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 8, 889–897 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-018-0329-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-018-0329-3

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