Preparation of a carbon‐based material derived from coking industry solid waste–phenol residue and its performance as hydrolysis catalysts

Abstract

ABSTRACTA carbon‐based solid acid was successfully synthesized by sulfonating a carbon precursor from pyrolysis of phenol residue, which is a solid waste from coking industry and contains higher phenols. The unit structures of the phenolic residual‐based solid acid are fused aromatic rings bearing CH3 side chains besides phenolic‐OH, COOH and SO3H groups. The direct pyrolysis and carbonization process of phenol residue abounding in phenolic hydroxyl groups avoids the loss of sulfonic acid groups instead of low temperature carbonization in concentrated sulfuric acid. Reaction kinetics of sucrose heterogeneous hydrolysis over the solid acid was studied to assess its catalytic activity and stability. The results indicate that the carbonization temperature for the preparation of carbon precursor significantly affects the catalytic performance of the solid acid because of the difference in the compact degree of carbon skeleton. The activation energy calculated is 74.67 kJ mol−1, which reveals good catalytic activity. And the catalyst is fairly stable after repeatedly being used five times. It can substitute enzymes and sulfuric acid in sucrose hydrolysis. © 2012 Curtin University of Technology and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.