CO2 adsorption in hydrochar produced from waste biomass

Activated carbons-preparation, characterization and their application in CO2 capture: A review

In this paper, we provide a comprehensive review of the latest research trends in terms of the preparation, and characteristics of activated carbons regarding CO2 adsorption applications, with a special focus on future investigation paths. The reported current research trends are primarily closely related to the synthesis conditions (carbonization and physical or chemical activation process), to develop the microporosity and surface area, which are the most important factors affecting the effectiveness of adsorption. Furthermore, we emphasized the importance of regeneration techniques as a factor determining the actual technological and economic suitability of a given material for CO2 capture application. Consequently, this work provides a summary and potential directions for the development of activated carbons (AC). We attempt to create a thorough theoretical foundation for activated carbons while also focusing on identifying and specific statements of the most relevant ongoing research scope that might be advantageous to progress and pursue in the coming years.

A review: Hydrochar as potential adsorbents for wastewater treatment and CO2 adsorption

To valorize the biomass and organic waste, hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) stands out as a highly efficient and promising pathway given its intrinsic advantages over other thermochemical processes. Hydrochar, as the main product obtained from HTC, is widely applied as a fuel source and soil conditioner. Aside from these applications, hydrochar can be either directly used or modified as bio-adsorbents for environmental remediation. This potential arises from its tunable surface chemistry and its suitability to act as a precursor for activated or engineered carbon. In view of the importance of this topic, this review offers a thorough examination of the research progress for using hydrochar and its modified forms to remove organic dyes (cationic and anionic dyes), heavy metals, herbicides/pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and CO2. The review also sheds light on the fundamental chemistry involved in HTC of biomass and the major analytical techniques applied for understanding surface chemistry of hydrochar and modified hydrochar. The knowledge gaps and potential hurdles are identified to highlight the challenges and prospects of this research field with a summary of the key findings from this review. Overall, this article provides valuable insights and directives and pinpoints the areas meriting further investigation in the application potential of hydrochar in wastewater management and CO2 capture.

An Exploratory Study of Hydrochar as a Matrix for Biotechnological Applications

This paper explores the potentialities of hydrochar in protein separation and enzyme immobilization for non-energy biorefinery applications of hydrothermal carbonization. An innovative experimental procedure monitors soluble protein-hydrochar interactions and enzymatic reactions in a continuously stirred tank reactor. The hydrochar comes from hydrothermal carbonization of silver fir (200 °C, 30 min, 1/7 solid/water ratio) and standard activation (KOH, oven, 600 °C). Bovine serum albumin, a non-active, globular protein, was adsorbed at ≤3300 mg/g. Sip's isotherms fitted data well (R2 = 0.99999). The immobilization used a commercial β-glucosidase, which catalyzes the hydrolysis of cellobiose to glucose, a bottleneck of the cellulose to fermentable sugar bioconversion network due to the fast enzyme deactivation. The hydrochar adsorbed ≤26 w/w% of enzyme. The heterogeneous biocatalyst operational stability was 24 times that of the soluble one. The results encourage further investigations and foreshadow process schemes coupling hydrothermal carbonization and industrial bioconversions.

A review on hydrothermal carbonization of potential biomass wastes, characterization and environmental applications of hydrochar, and biorefinery perspectives of the process

It is imperative to search for appropriate processes to convert wastes into energy, chemicals, and materials to establish a circular bio-economy toward sustainable development. Concerning waste biomass valorization, hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is a promising route given its advantages over other thermochemical processes. From that perspective, this article reviewed the HTC of potential biomass wastes, the characterization and environmental utilization of hydrochar, and the biorefinery potential of this process. Crop and forestry residues and sewage sludge are two categories of biomass wastes (lignocellulosic and non-lignocellulosic, respectively) readily available for HTC or even co-hydrothermal carbonization (Co-HTC). The temperature, reaction time, and solid-to-liquid ratio utilized in HTC/Co-HTC of those biomass wastes were reported to range from 140 to 370 °C, 0.05 to 48 h, and 1/47 to 1/1, respectively, providing hydrochar yields of up to 94 % according to the process conditions. Hydrochar characterization by different techniques to determine its physicochemical properties is crucial to defining the best applications for this material. In the environmental field, hydrochar might be suitable for removing pollutants from aqueous systems, ameliorating soils, adsorbing atmospheric pollutants, working as an energy carrier, and performing carbon sequestration. But this material could also be employed in other areas (e.g., catalysis). Regarding the effluent from HTC/Co-HTC, this byproduct has the potential for serving as feedstock in other processes, such as anaerobic digestion and microalgae cultivation. These opportunities have aroused the industry interest in HTC since 2010, and the number of industrial-scale HTC plants and patent document applications has increased. The hydrochar patents are concentrated in China (77.6 %), the United States (10.6 %), the Republic of Korea (3.5 %), and Germany (3.5 %). Therefore, considering the possibilities of converting their product (hydrochar) and byproduct (effluent) into energy, chemicals, and materials, HTC or Co-HTC could work as the first step of a biorefinery. And this approach would completely agree with circular bioeconomy principles.

Biochar and hydrochar in the context of anaerobic digestion for a circular approach: An overview

Biochar and hydrochar are carbonaceous materials with valuable applications. They can be synthesized from a wide range of organic wastes, including digestate. Digestate is the byproduct of anaerobic digestion (AD), which is performed for bioenergy (biogas) production from organic residues. Through a thermochemical process, such as pyrolysis, gasification, and hydrothermal carbonization - HTC, digestate can be converted into biochar or hydrochar. The addition of either biochar or hydrochar in AD has been reported to improve biochemical reactions and microbial growth, increasing the buffer capacity, and facilitating direct interspecies electrons transfer (DIET), resulting in higher methane (CH₄) yields. Both biochar and hydrochar can adsorb undesired compounds present in biogas, such as carbon dioxide (CO₂), hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), ammonia (NH₃), and even siloxanes. However, an integrated understanding of biochar and hydrochar produced from digestate through their return to the AD process, as additives or as adsorbents for biogas purification, is yet to be attained to close the material flow loop in a circular economy model. Therefore, this overview aimed at addressing the integration of biochar and hydrochar production from digestate, their utilization as additives and effects on AD, and their potential to adsorb biogas contaminants. This integration is supported by life cycle assessment (LCA) studies, showing positive results when combining AD and the aforementioned thermochemical processes, although more LCA is still necessary. Techno-economic assessment (TEA) studies of the processes considered are also presented, and despite an expanding market of biochar and hydrochar, further TEA is required to verify the profitability of the proposed integration, given the specificities of each process design. Overall, the synthesis of biochar and hydrochar from digestate can contribute to improving the AD process, establishing a cyclic process that is in agreement with the circular economy concept.

Hydrochar: A Review on Its Production Technologies and Applications

Recently, due to the escalating usage of non-renewable fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas and petroleum coke in electricity and power generation, and associated issues with pollution and global warming, more attention is being paid to finding alternative renewable fuel sources. Thermochemical and hydrothermal conversion processes have been used to produce biochar and hydrochar, respectively, from waste renewable biomass. Char produced from the thermochemical and hydrothermal decomposition of biomass is considered an environmentally friendly replacement for solid hydrocarbon materials such as coal and petroleum coke. Unlike thermochemically derived biochar, hydrochar has received little attention due to the lack of literature on its production technologies, physicochemical characterization, and applications. This review paper aims to fulfill these objectives and fill the knowledge gaps in the literature relating to hydrochar. Therefore, this review discusses the most recent studies on hydrochar characteristics, reaction mechanisms for char production technology such as hydrothermal carbonization, as well as hydrochar activation and functionalization. In addition, the applications of hydrochar, mainly in the fields of agriculture, pollutant adsorption, catalyst support, bioenergy, carbon sequestration, and electrochemistry are reviewed. With advancements in hydrothermal technologies and other environmentally friendly conversion technologies, hydrochar appears to be an appealing bioresource for a wide variety of energy, environmental, industrial, and commercial applications.

Activated hydrochar produced from brewer's spent grain and its application in the removal of acetaminophen

Acetaminophen has shown a gradual increase in detection in surface waters. Although present in low concentrations, it should be removed to prevent deleterious effects. Thus, adsorption onto activated carbon is emphasized. Adsorbents may be produced by hydrothermal carbonization (HTC), an environmental-friendly process. Therefore, this work aimed to investigate the use of HTC, verifying its application in acetaminophen removal. Brewer's spent grain (BSG), its hydrochar (HC-BSG) and its activated hydrochar (AHC-BSG) were characterized. HTC provided material with high carbon content. Lignocellulosic breakdown has been demonstrated in HC-BSG and AHC-BSG, but in the latter it was more intense as a result of activation with KOH. Also, a high surface area was found in AHC-BSG (1512.83 m² g^-1), resulting in an adsorption of 318.00 mg g^-1. The pseudo-second-order and Langmuir models were fitted to the experimental data. Therefore, HTC was effective as a pretreatment for AHC-BSG, resulting in significant acetaminophen removals.