In this work, design of experiments–response
surface methodology (RSM) was implemented to predict the importance
of hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) key parameters and their interactions
in the preparation of canola-stalk-derived hydrochar via HTC technique.
According to the RSM results, temperature and reaction time were found
to be the most important control factors. The possible optimum conditions
were found to be 207 °C and 82 min for temperature and time,
respectively, in order to achieve a hydrochar with the maximum mass
yield (solid yield 53.38%), carbon recovery rate (52.66), and O/C
ratio (0.69). Furthermore, the optimized hydrochar was successfully
activated via potassium hydroxide (KOH), under mild activation conditions.
Synthesized microporous activated carbon demonstrated the highly improved
Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area of 474.87
m2 g–1 compared to the low BET surface
area of mesoporous hydrochar (S
BET of
2.69 m2 g–1). Porous activated carbon
was used as an adsorbent for methylene blue removal that showed a
promising dye removal capacity of 93.4 mg g–1. The
morphological and chemical compositions of the solid materials were
analyzed by various techniques, including elemental analysis, field
emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), BET analysis, Fourier
transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and energy-dispersive X-ray
spectroscopy.
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