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Insights into the microstructure evolution and CO2 adsorption of activated carbon derived from spent coffee grounds and sewage sludge

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Abstract

Based on the suitability of the raw materials and treatment processes as well as the structural differences and complementarities of activated carbon prepared from coffee grounds (CG) and sludge, this study proposed a strategy to blend various sludge with the higher (50.91%) and lower (34.19%) ash contents into CG to prepare porous activated carbon for CO2 adsorption. Compared with sludge with higher ash content (HS), the activated carbon prepared from sludge with lower ash content (LS) had superior defect degree and carbon skeleton stability. Moreover, the activated carbon (CLSAC-20) derived from LS blended into coffee grounds under a ratio of 20% continued to optimize the structure of that from coffee grounds (CAC), which is mainly microporous. This was attributed to the LS exhibiting the structure-oriented role, which increased the pore volume (from 0.664 to 0.766 cm3/g) and specific surface area (from 1217.84 to 1355.65 m2/g). Because of the structural improvement achieved by LS blending, the CLSAC-20 had a better CO2 adsorption capacity (3.75 mmol/g) than CAC (3.27 mmol/g). Both were superior to commercial activated carbon (2.6 mmol/g) and the adsorption efficiencies still maintained above 90% after 5 cycles of regeneration. In summary, this study developed a simple, efficient, and environmentally friendly strategy to convert organic solid waste into high-value-added CO2 adsorbent.

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Abbreviations

BET:

Brunauer-Emmett-Teller

BJH:

Barrett-Joyner-Halenda

CAC:

Coffee grounds activated carbon

CG:

Coffee grounds

CHSAC-20:

Activated carbon prepared from 80% coffee grounds and 20% high-ash sludge

CHSAC-35:

Activated carbon prepared from 65% coffee grounds and 35% high-ash sludge

CHSAC-50:

Activated carbon prepared from 50% coffee grounds and 50% high-ash sludge

CLSAC-20:

Activated carbon prepared from 80% coffee grounds and 20% low-ash sludge

HS:

Sludge with higher ash content (50.91%)

HSAC:

Activated carbon prepared from sludge with higher ash content (50.91%)

LS:

Sludge with lower ash content (34.19%)

LSAC:

Activated carbon prepared from sludge with lower ash content (34.19%)

NLDFT:

Non-localized density functional theory

SEM:

Scanning electron microscopy

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Funding

This study was funded by National Natural Science Foundation (Nos. 52170141, 52236008, and 52206178), the Key Research and Development Program of Zhejiang Province (No. 2022C03092), and the State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization (Open Fund Project No. ZJUCEU2021002).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Thermal and Power Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Liuhe Road 288#, 310023, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Zehuang Zhang, Qianqian Guo, Long Jiao, Xu Wang, Mingzhe Li, Nan Zhou & Yanjun Hu

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  1. Zehuang Zhang
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  2. Qianqian Guo
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  3. Long Jiao
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  4. Xu Wang
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  6. Nan Zhou
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  7. Yanjun Hu
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Contributions

Zehuang Zhang: investigation, methodology, and writing–original draft; Qianqian Guo: methodology and writing—review and editing; Long Jiao and Nan Zhou: resources and data curation; Xu Wang and Mingzhe Li: investigation and methodology; Yanjun Hu: conceptualization, validation, and supervision.

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Correspondence to Yanjun Hu.

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Zehuang Zhang and Qianqian Guo contribute to the work equally.

Highlights

• Blending LS increased pore volume from 0.664 to 0.766 cm3/g.

• Blending LS showed a higher defect level and better carbon skeleton structure.

• The pore structure improvement was attributed to structure-oriented role of LS.

• CLSAC-20 behaved the maximum CO2 adsorption capacity of 3.75 mmol/g.

• The performances of CLSAC-20 and CAC were superior to commercial activated carbon.

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Zhang, Z., Guo, Q., Jiao, L. et al. Insights into the microstructure evolution and CO2 adsorption of activated carbon derived from spent coffee grounds and sewage sludge. Biomass Conv. Bioref. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-023-04878-3

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