Cotton gin trash (CGT) was used to produce activated carbon via pyrolysis and steam activation. To determine the effect of pyrolysis temperature and time on the properties of activated carbon, optimization of the pyrolysis conditions at temperatures of 600, 700, and 800 0 C for 30, 45 and 60 minutes were made. Steam activation of the product char was prepared at temperatures range of 250-600 o C and ambient pressure (14.7 psi) for 60 minutes while iodine number and ash analysis were conducted to evaluate the adsorption capacity of the produced activated carbon. Char production was found to decrease with increasing pyrolysis temperature and time. Whereas, the optimal increase in iodine number value from 200 to 427 was observed at 700 0 C and 45 minutes pyrolysis conditions. Using the concept of biomass iodine number, the adsorption property of the CGT activated carbon was found comparable with commercially available activated carbon from lignite, which had an iodine value of 600.

Cotton-gin trash (CGT) was pyrolyzed at different temperatures and reaction times using an externally-heated batch reactor. The average yields of output products (solid/char, liquid/bio-oil, and gaseous) were determined. The heating value (HV) of CGT was measured to be around 15-16 MJ kg-1 (6500-7000 Btu lb-1). In the first set of tests, CGT was pyrolyzed at 600, 700, and 800°C and at 30, 45, and 60 min reaction period. The maximum char yield of 40% by weight (wt.%) was determined at 600°C and 30 min settings, however, the HV of char was low and almost similar to the HV of CGT. A maximum gas yield of 40 wt.% was measured at 800°C and 60 min and the highest liquid yield of 30 wt.% was determined at 800°C and 30 min. In the modified pyrolysis test, the effects of temperature (500, 600, 700, and 800°C) on the product yield and other properties were investigated. The experiment was performed using the same reactor purged with nitrogen at a rate of 1000 cm 3 min-1. Gas yield increased as temperature was increased while the effect was opposite on char yield. The maximum char yield of 38 wt.% was determined at 500°C and 30 min. The char had the largest fraction in the energy output (70-83%) followed by gas (10-20%) and bio-oil (7-9%). Maximum gas

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Emission factors are fundamental tools for estimating the total emission of certain criteria pollutants from a particular source at a given time. In this work we performed a new protocol similar to EPA method TO-14A, suggested by Capareda et al. (2005) in determining ROG emissions from animal feeding operations. Fourteen (14) ROG were tentatively identified and quantified from the dairy and beef feedlot located at Central Texas and Texas Panhandle, respectively during summer of 2006. The compound groups found include ketones, aldehydes, alcohols, volatile fatty acids, benzothiazole, phenols and p-cresol. We found that the relative amounts of ROG in the dairy were much higher than in the beef feedlot and the volatile fatty acids (VFAs) group being more dominant than the other compound groups. Cattle wastes (i.e. manure and urine), milk and some dairy produce are considered as major contributors of biogenic ROG and could be the main reason for the difference. Meanwhile, acetic acid was selected among the volatile fatty acids and its concentration and emission factor were determined for both the sampling locations. It was found that the average emission factor of acetic acid in the dairy open feedlot (ca. 775 kg 1000-hd -1 yr -1 ) was more than four times the magnitude of emission factor in the beef cattle openlot (ca. 186 kg 1000-hd -1 yr -1 ). However, the analysis and characterization of the data using the suggested protocol does not include the full suite of ROG emissions from the dairy and beef cattle feedyards.