• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.440-444
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• 2012

In this work, a semi-carbonized wood chip (SC-WC) was prepared by heat-treatment at low carbonization temperature. The pyrolysis characterization and heating value of the SC-WC at different heat-treatment temperature were evaluated. The pyrolysis characterization and heating value of the SC-WC were determined using thermal gravimetric analyzer (TGA) in $N_{2}$ atmosphere and calorimeter, respectively. From the TGA results, the thermal decomposition reaction of the SC-WC treated at by low temperature was similar to pure wood chip and the reaction was most actively occurred in the range of $200^{\circ}C$ to $400^{\circ}C$, whereas the initial thermal decomposition temperature of the SC-WC increased with the increasing heat-treatment temperature. In addition, the heating value of the SC-WC showed a similar trend as to the decamposition temperature behavior. This is probably attributed to increased carbon content of SC-WC by the localized carbonization of the wood chip which consisted of cellulose, hemi-cellulose, and lignin.

• Carbon letters
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.224-234
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• 2010

Four activated carbons were produced by two-stage process as followings; semi-carbonization of indigenous biomass waste, i.e. cotton stalks, followed by chemical activation with KOH under various activation temperatures and chemical ratios of KOH to semi-carbonized cotton stalks (CCS). The surface area, total pore volume and average pore diameter were evaluated by $N_2$-adsorption at 77 K. The surface morphology and oxygen functional groups were determined by SEM and FTIR, respectively. Batch equilibrium and kinetic studies were carried out by using a basic dye, methylene blue as a probe molecule to evaluate the adsorption capacity and mechanism over the produced carbons. The obtained activated carbon (CCS-1K800) exhibited highly microporous structure with high surface area of 950 $m^2/g$, total pore volume of 0.423 $cm^3/g$ and average pore diameter of 17.8 ${\AA}$. The isotherm data fitted well to the Langmuir isotherm with monolayer adsorption capacity of 222 mg/g for CCS-1K800. The kinetic data obtained at different concentrations were analyzed using a pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order and intraparticle diffusion equations. The pseudo-second-order model fitted better for kinetic removal of MB dye. The results indicate that such laboratory carbons could be employed as low cost alternative to commercial carbons in wastewater treatment.