In this work, subabul wood biomass was used to prepare carbon adsorbents by physical and chemical activation methods at various carbonization temperatures. The properties of the carbon adsorbents were estimated through characterization techniques such as X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X–ray photo electron spectroscopy, laser Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, CHNS-elemental analysis and N2 adsorption studies. Subabul-derived carbon adsorbents were used for CO2 capture in the temperature range of 25–70 °C. A detailed adsorption kinetic study was also carried out. The characterization results indicated that these carbons contain high surface area with microporosity. Surface properties were depended on treatment method and carbonization temperature. Among the carbons, the carbon prepared after treatment of H3PO4 and carbonization at 800 °C exhibited high adsorption capacity of 4.52 m.mol/g at 25 °C. The reason for high adsorption capacity of the adsorbents was explained based on their physicochemical characteristics. The adsorbents showed easy desorption and recyclability up to ten cycle with consistent activity.

In today’s world, carbon-based materials research is much wider wherein, it requires a lot of processing techniques to manufacture or synthesize. Moreover, the processing methods through which the carbon-based materials are derived from synthetic sources are of high cost. Processing of such hierarchical porous carbon materials (PCMs) was slightly complex and only very few methods render carbon nano-materials (CNMs) with high specific surface area. Once it is processed, which paves a path to versatile applications. CNMs derived from biological sources are widespread and their application spectrum is also very wide. This review focuses on biomass-derived CNMs from various plant sources for its versatile applications. The major thrust areas of energy storage include batteries, super-capacitors, and fuel cells which are described in this article. Meanwhile, the challenges faced during the processing of biomass-derived CNMs and their future prospects are also discussed comprehensively.

Cost-effective and sustainable high-performance supercapacitor material was successfully prepared from cellulosic waste (Sapindus trifoliatus nut shells) biomass-derived activated carbon (CBAC) by physical activation method. The CBAC displays nanofiber morphology, high specific surface area (786 m2/ g), large pore volume (0.212 cm3 g− 1) which are evaluated using FESEM, BET and possessed excellent electrochemical behavior analyzed through various electrochemical methods. Moreover, the assembled symmetric CBAC//CBAC device exhibits high specific capacitance of 240.8 F g− 1 with current density of 0.2 A g− 1 and it is maintained to 65.6 F g− 1 at high current density of 2.0 A g− 1. In addition, the symmetric device delivers an excellent specific energy maximum of over 30 Wh kg− 1 at 400 W kg− 1 of specific power and excellent cycling stability in long term over 5000 cycles. The operation of the device was tested by light-emitting diode. Hence, CBAC-based materials pave way for developing large-scale, low-cost materials for energy storage device applications.

To meet the increased performance and cost requirements of commercial supercapacitor, a N and O self-doped hierarchical porous carbon is fabricated via a green and simple self-activation route utilizing leaves of wild hollyhock as raw materials. Comparing to commercial activated carbon, the reported material exhibits some marked merits, such as simple and green fabrication process, low cost, and superior capacitance performance. The specific surface area of the obtained N and O codoped hierarchical porous carbon arrives 954 m2 g−1, and the content of the self-doped nitrogen and oxygen reaches 2.64 at.% and 7.38 at.%, respectively. The specific capacitance of the obtained material reaches 226 F g− 1 while the specific capacitance of the symmetric supercapacitor arrives 47.3 F g− 1. Meanwhile, more than 90.3% of initial specific capacitance is kept under a current density of 20 A g− 1, and no arresting degradation is observed for capacitance after 5000 times cycle, perfectly demonstrating the excellent cycle and rate capability of the obtained material. The obtained N and O co-doped hierarchical porous carbon are expected to be an ideal substitution for commercial activated carbon.

Energy and environmental are always two major challenges for the sustainable development of the modern human being. For avoiding the serious environmental pollution caused in the fabrication process of porous carbon, a popular energy storage material, we reported a facile, green and activating agent free route hereby directly carbonizing a special biomass, Glebionis coronaria. A nitrogen doped hierarchical porous carbon with a specific surface area of up to 1007 m2 g−1 and a N doping content of up to 2.65 at.% was facilely fabricated by employing the above route. Benefiting from the peculiarly hierarchical porous morphology, enhanced wettability and improved conductivity, the obtained material exhibits superior capacitance performance, which capacitance reaches up to 205 F g−1 under two-electrode configuration, and no capacitance loss is observed after 5000 cycles. Meanwhile, the capacitance retention of the obtained material arrives up to 95.0% even under a high current density of 20 A g−1, illuminating its excellent rate capability. The fabricated nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous carbon with larger capacitance than commercial activated carbon, excellent rate capability and cycle stability is an ideal cost-efficient substitution of commercial activated carbon for supercapacitor application.

In this study, we tried to prepare an isotropic spinnable pitch which can be useful to prepare the general purpose carbon fiber through the co-carbonization of biomass tar with ethylene bottom oil under two different preparation methods (atmospheric distillation, pressurized distillation). The results showed that the ethylene bottom oil added co-carbonization was very effective to decrease of the oxygen contents for obtaining a stable spinnable pitch. The pressurized distillation was more effective to reduce the oxygen functional groups of pitches than atmospheric distillation. The obtained spinnable pitch by the pressurized distillation showed higher pitch yield of 42% and lower oxygen content of 9.12% than the spinnable pitch by the atmospheric distillation. The carbon fiber derived from the pressurized distillation spinnable pitch by carbonization at 800ºC for 5 min showed that the higher tensile strength of carbon fiber was increased up to 800 MPa.

In the present study, biomass-based lignin was extracted from industrial waste black liquor and the extracted lignin was characterized by means of attenuated total reflectance- Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The extracted lignin was carbonized at different temperatures and then activated with steam at 850oC. The extracted lignin in powder state was transformed into a bulky carbonized lignin due to possible fusion between the lignin particles occurring upon carbonization. The carbonized and then pulverized lignin exhibits brittle surfaces, the increased thermal stability, and the carbon assay with increasing the carbonization temperature. The scanning electron microscopic images and the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller result indicate that the steam-activated carbon has the specific surface area of 1718 m2/g, which is markedly greater than the carbonized lignin. This study reveals that biomassbased activated carbon with highly porous structure can be produced from costless black liquor via steam-activation process.

국가장기생태사업(LTER)의 일환으로 한라산 아고산대 구상나무림의 물질생산과 탄소분포의 특성을 밝히고자 2009년부터 2013년까지 현존량, 유기탄소분포, 낙엽생산, 임상낙엽량과 토양 유기탄소 축척량을 조사하였다. 식물현존량은 상대생장법에 의해 보고된 물질생산 식을 이용하여 측정하고 이를 이산화탄소의 고정량으로 환산하였다. 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 와 2013년의 현존량은 각각 98.88, 106.42, 107.67, 108.31 와 91.48ton ha-1였다. 이 기간 동안의 유기탄소는 지상부 생물량에 35.95, 38.69, 38.96, 39.46, 33.2ton C ha-1, 지하부 생물량에 8.54, 9.2, 9.49, 9.28, 7.97ton C ha-1이 각각 분포하였다. 5년 동안 낙엽 생산을 통해 1.09, 1.80, 1.32, 2.46 와 1.20ton C ha-1의 유기탄소가 생태계로 유입되었다. 2010, 2011, 2012와 2013년의 임상낙엽층의 유기탄소량은 2.74, 2.43, 2.00 와 1.16ton C ha-1였고, 토양 20cm깊이까지의 유기탄소 축적량은 55.77, 54.90, 50.69, 44.42 와 41.87ton C ha-120cm-1였다. 이와같이 현존량과 유기탄소량이 2009~2012년까지 매년 증가하였지만 태풍이 있었던 2013년에는 감소하였다. 이러한 현상은 자연적 교란이 한국의 아고산대 생태계에 크게 영향을 미친다는 것을 의미한다.

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 N2-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 m2/g, total pore volume of 0.423 cm3/g and average pore diameter of 17.8 a. 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.

The adsorption of Acid Blue 92 onto three low cost and ecofriendly biosorbents viz., cow dung ash, mango stone ash and parthenium leaves ash and commercial activated carbon have discussed in this work. The ash of all the mentioned bio-wastes was prepared in the muffle furnace at 500℃ and all the adsorbents were stored in an air thermostat. Experiments at total dye concentrations of 10~100 mg/L were carried out with a synthetic effluent prepared in the laboratory. The parameters such as pH and dye concentration were varied. Equilibrium adsorption data followed both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. The results indicate that cow dung ash, mango stone ash and parthenium leaves ash could be employed as low-cost alternatives to commercial activated carbon in wastewater treatment for the removal of dye.

Study on the removal of Acid Green 20 by adsorption on indigenously prepared activated carbons from cow dung, mango stone, parthenium leaves and commercial activated carbon have been carried out with an aim to obtain information on treating effluents from tanneries. The effects of various experimental parameters have been investigated by following the batch adsorption technique. Adsorption data was modeled with the Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms. Removal of Acid Green 20 was found to be favorable using Biomass ash and could be considered as alternatives to commercial activated carbon for the treatment of tannery effluents, especially for the removal of dye(s).

The objective of this work is to study the feasibility of the preparation of the activated carbon (AC) from coconut tree flowers using high temperature fluidized bed reactor (HTFBR). The activating agent used in this work is steam. The reactor was operated at various activation temperature (650, 700, 750, 800 and 850℃) and activation time (30, 60, 120 and 240 min) for the production of AC from coconut tree flowers. Effect of activation time and activation temperature on the quality of the AC preparation was observed. Prepared AC was characterized in-terms of iodine number, methylene blue number, methyl violet number, ethylene glycol mono ethyl ether (EGME) surface area and SEM photographs. The best quality of AC from coconut tree flowers (CFC) was obtained at an activation temperature and time of 850℃ and 1 hr restectively. The effectiveness of carbon prepared from coconut tree flowers in adsorbing crystal violet from aqueous solution has been studied as a function of agitation time, carbon dosage, and pH. The adsorption of crystal violet onto AC followed second order kinetic model. Adsorption data were modeled using both Langmuir and Freundlich classical adsorption isotherms. The adsorption capacity qm was 277.78 mg/g., equilibrium time was found to be 180 min. This adsorbent from coconut tree flowers was found to be effective for the removal of CV dye.

This study aims to identify participating resident awareness of the improvements to forest carbon cycle villages created by the Korea Forest Service by introducing a system for district heating basedon forest biomass in mountainous areas. Hwacheon Forest Carbon Circulation village was established in Paroho-neureup village in Yuchon-ri, Hwacheon-gun between 2011 and 2013. However, its operation has not been smooth due to the increasing number of households rapidly leaving the district heating system. This study surveyed 76 households that participated in the district heating system using forest biomass in the early stages of the project. This includes households participating in the district heating system(participating households) and households not currently participating in the district heating system(withdrawal households) from September 2019. Surveys focused on the process of participating in forest carbon cycle village projects, and satisfaction in local heating and policy requirements. Of the 67 households, excepting those not allowed to participate in the survey due to death or having moved elsewhere, 36 households participated and 31 households the were in the process of leaving the village were also included. As a result, there was a significant difference between participating and exiting households in the motivation and satisfaction level of district heating. The results of this study are expects to reflect the importance of awareness of residents in the operation of the forest carbon cycle village. This will be utilized as an important dataset for improvement as a means to promote the re-entry if outgoing households. It will also help set the direction of the forest town revitalization project, utilizing forest biomass in the future.

바이오차는 바이오매스를 고온에서 열분해하여 생성되는 탄화물로써, 공기 중 이산화탄소가 바이오매스를 거쳐 탄소 형태로 바이오차로 전환된 것을 저장할 경우, 지구 탄소 사이클의 일부를 고정하는 효과가 있다. 이처럼 저감할 수 있는 온실가스의 양을 이산화탄소로 환산할 경우, 연간 1.0~1.8Gt CO2에 달한다고 보고된 바있다. IEA는 2050년까지 세계 전력 소비량의 7.5%를 바이오에너지로 공급하겠다는 로드맵을 수립한 바 있다. 바이오차는 탄소로 구성된 고체물질로 다양한 분야에 활용될 수 있는데 본 연구에서는 매년 전정되어지는 과수 전정지와 도정과정에서 나오는 왕겨 등의 농업부산물, 가지치기나 간벌재 등의 임업부산물을 바이오차로 제조하는 방법에 대하여 연구하였다. 이를 이용해서 수질정화, 공기정화, 캐퍼시터 등에 활용할 수 있는데 이를 위해서는 활성화 단계를 거쳐 활성탄을 제조할 필요가 있다. 본 연구에서는 다양한 바이오매스 유래의 바이오차를 이용하여 비표면적이 넓은 활성탄 제조방법에 대해 연구하였다.