Abstract
This paper details the characterisation of char obtained by high-temperature pyrolysis of waste macadamia shell biomass and its application as carbon source in iron-carbon alloy production. The obtained char was characterised by ultimate and proximate analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photon spectroscopy (XPS), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area via N2 isothermal adsorption and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results indicated that obtained char is less porous, low in ash content, and high in carbon content. Investigation of iron-carbon alloy formation through carbon dissolution at 1550 °C was carried out using sessile drop method by using obtained char as a carbon source. Rapid carbon pickup by iron was observed during first two minutes of contact and reached a saturation value of ~5.18 wt % of carbon after 30 min. The carbon dissolution rate using macadamia char as a source of carbon was comparatively higher using than other carbonaceous materials such as metallurgical coke, coal chars, and waste compact discs, due to its high percentage of carbon and low ash content. This research shows that macadamia shell waste, which has a low content of ash, is a valuable supplementary carbon source for iron-carbon alloy industries.
Highlights
Iron-carbon alloy is known as steel when the dissolved carbon into liquid iron is below 2.1%, and is referred to as cast iron when the percentage of dissolved carbon is even greater
Our result shows that high temperature pyrolysis of macadamia shell waste produced ~22 wt %
The obtained results have been compared with various carbonaceous materials such as synthetic graphite, natural graphite, coke, coal chars with various carbonaceous materials such as synthetic graphite, natural graphite, coke, coal chars and and waste Compact Disk (CD) char
Summary
Iron-carbon alloy is known as steel when the dissolved carbon into liquid iron is below 2.1%, and is referred to as cast iron when the percentage of dissolved carbon is even greater. Around 70% of global iron-carbon alloy is produced in basic oxygen furnaces (BOFs), which consume 770 kg of coking coal to produce 1 tonne of steel. Present study investigates the use of waste biomass i.e., macadamia shell as a replacement of coal and coke in steelmaking industries to produce iron-carbon alloy. Carbon dissolution rate in iron-carbon alloy using macadamia char as source was higher than other carbonaceous materials such as metallurgical coke, coal chars, etc. This novel approach of using macadamia shell waste could be an alternative promising carbon resource for synthesis of iron-carbon alloy
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