Production of fungicidal oil and activated carbon from pistachio shell

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of pistachio shell as a biomass feedstock for the production of fungicidal oil and a precursor for the production of activated carbon by physical activation. For this purpose, pistachio shell was pyrolyzed in a fixed bed reactor at the different temperatures (300–600 °C). The pyrolysis products were identified as gas, bio-oil, aqueous solution and char. The product distribution from pyrolysis process did not significantly change when the pyrolysis temperature was above 300 °C. The pyrolysis gas product had low calorific value since it contained the high proportion of carbon oxides. Because of their high oxygen content, the bio-oils were found not to be used as a fuel. Thus, the bio-oil was tested again four different types of fungi (pathogenetic, wood decaying and saprophyting). It was shown fungicidal activity again all tested fungi at the concentration of 10–50 mg ml−1. The pyrolysis char was evaluated as a precursor for the production of activated carbon. The surface area and micropore volume of the activated carbon produced from the char by CO2 activation at 900 °C were found to be 708 m2 g−1 and 0.280 cm3 g−1, respectively.