Utilization of pine tree biochar produced by flame-curtain pyrolysis in two non-agricultural applications

Abstract

Main objective of this work was to demonstrate the applicability of biochars obtained from pine tree residues through low cost, easy to operate, flame-curtain pyrolysis, in two distinctively different applications. In the first application, it was shown that base-oxidized pine tree biochar had an excellent adsorption behavior towards U(VI) in aqueous solutions, achieving a qmax value of 800 mg g−1. It was also demonstrated that surface interactions with biochar's oxygen-containing groups dominated over physical interactions with the pore structure. In the second application, KOH-activated pine tree biochar showed a very promising behavior as an electrode material in an electron double-layer capacitor. Due to its high surface area (2500 m2/ g), capacitance values of 190 F g−1 at 10 mA g−1 for discharge process were achieved. As a conclusion, it was shown that flame-curtain pyrolysis biochars are suitable for non-agricultural applications, in the cases where soil application is not an option.