Sustainable production of value-added carbon nanomaterials from biomass pyrolysis

Abstract

The production of renewable energy and chemicals from biomass can be performed sustainably using pyrolysis, but the production costs associated with biomass pyrolysis hinder its wider application. The use of renewable precursors and waste heat to fabricate high-quality functional carbon nanomaterials can considerably improve the sustainability and economic viability of this process. Here, we propose a method to maximize the economic benefits and the sustainability of biomass pyrolysis by utilizing waste pyrolysis gases and waste heat to prepare high-quality three-dimensional graphene foams (3DGFs). The resulting 3DGFs exhibit excellent performance in environmental and energy-storage applications. On the basis of a life-cycle assessment, the overall life-cycle impacts of the present synthetic route on human health, ecosystems and resources are less than those of the conventional chemical vapour deposition (CVD) process. Overall, incorporating the pyrolytic route for fabricating functional carbonaceous materials into the biomass pyrolysis process improves the sustainability and economic viability of the process and can support wider commercial application of biomass pyrolysis. Biomass pyrolysis for renewable energy and chemicals offers sustainability advantages but is expensive. This study shows a route to improve both the sustainability and economic viability of biomass pyrolysis by using pyrolytic gases and waste heat to fabricate high-quality carbon nanomaterials.