Activated carbon produced from paulownia sawdust for high-performance CO2 sorbents

In this paper, activated carbons (ACs) with high specific surface areas were successfully synthesized by simple one-step carbonization-activation from paulownia sawdust biomass, and the effects of the synthetic conditions on their CO2 capture capacity were investigated as well. The results show that, when the mass ratio between activator and biomass is 4, the activation temperature is 700 °C and the activation time is 1 h, as-made AC provides the most micropores for CO2 adsorption. As a consequence, the maximum CO2 uptake of 8.0 mmol/g is obtained at 0 °C and 1 bar.

Graphical abstractHigh-performance CO2 sorbents have been synthesized by one-step carbonization-activation from paulownia sawdust biomass, and as-made activated carbon products possess high surface areas and large micropore volumes, and show the maximum CO2 uptake of 8.0 mmol/g at 0 °C and 1 bar.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide