Biochars and Activated Biocarbons Prepared via Conventional Pyrolysis and Chemical or Physical Activation of Mugwort Herb as Potential Adsorbents and Renewable Fuels

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to prepare a series of biochars and activated biocarbons via conventional pyrolysis as well as chemical or physical activation of solid residue after solvent extraction of wild growing plant (popular weed)–mugwort. The influence of the variant of the thermochemical treatment of the precursor on such parameters as elemental composition, textural parameters, acidic-basic character of the surface as well as adsorption abilities of the prepared carbonaceous materials was checked. Moreover, the suitability of the biochars prepared as renewable fuels was also investigated. It has been shown that the products obtained from the mugwort stems differ in many respects from the analogous materials obtained from mugwort leaves. The products were micro/mesoporous materials with surface area reaching 974.4 m2/g and total pore volume–1.190 cm3/g. Surface characterization showed that chemical activation with H3PO4 results in the acidic character of the adsorbents surface, whereas products of pyrolysis and especially physical activation show strongly alkaline surface properties. All the adsorbents were used for methylene blue and iodine adsorption from the aquatic environment. To understand the nature of the sorption process, the Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin isotherm models were employed. The Langmuir model best described the experimental results, and the maximum sorption capacity calculated for this model reached 164.14 mg of methylene blue per gram of adsorbent. In case of iodine removal, the maximum capacity reached 948.00 mg/g. The research carried out for the biochars prepared via conventional pyrolysis showed that the value of their heat of combustion varies in the range from 21.74 to 30.27 MJ/kg, so they can be applied as the renewable fuels.