Investigation of CO2 sequestration performance and statistical analysis of dye removal efficiency of liquefied hornbeam based carbon foams: Effects of biomass/solvent weight ratio, tar contribution, and chemical activation

Abstract

The preparation of carbon foams from bio-based polyols was a preferable alternative for the development of new materials from waste resources. The research described the usage of wood processing factory waste for the production of open-cell carbon foams with a high application potential. Bio-based carbon foams were developed by hornbeam tree sawdust, a low-cost and renewable material for dye removal via adsorption and CO2 uptake performance. In this work, the influences of the solvent type, and solvent/biomass weight ratio on the characteristics of carbon foams were investigated in the solvolytic liquefaction process. A chemical activation process with KOH was applied to the foams and this provided high porosity and surface area (up to 1454 m2/g). Carbon foams were found to have comparable compressive strengths; up to 1.080 MPa. As a result of the statistical analysis, according to the variance analysis performed with a confidence level limit of 95%, it was specified that pH had a negative coefficient and was the most significant factor in NH dye removal. According to the experiments carried out within the scope of investigating the usability of carbon foams in the removal of pollutants from gas and liquid systems, HCFTA-3 carbon foam exhibited a maximum removal efficiency of 55.2% for NH dye when pH was 2, and HCFA-3 carbon foam had the highest CO2 holding capacity at 0 °C as measured by 6.53 mmol/g CO2. This study provided an understanding of the sustainable bio-based carbon foams from industrial waste biomass for practical application of green chemistry.