Biochars are emerging ecological products that show excellent properties in areas such as carbon sequestration, soil improvement, bioremediation, activated carbon and bioenergy. These interesting materials can be synthesized from a wide variety of sources derived from waste, including lignocellulosic biomass waste. In this work, biochars were produced from residues from the Brazilian Amazon, such as green coconut, babassu and Brazil nuts. The synthesis of biochars was performed under pyrolysis conditions with a fixed time of 3 h and temperature variation of 250 ºC (T1) and 400 ºC (T2). Yields of biochar production >85%, carbon contents >56%, and oxygen contents >20% and calorific values >23 MJ.Kg -1 , demonstrate that biochars produced from residual biomass can be used as activated carbon and also as fertilizers in soils, thus adding value to such residues. Besides, the biomasses used were characterized and the achieved remarkable yields of fermentable sugars, reaching up to 70% in cellulose hydrolysis, which can be useful in the production of bioproducts. In addition, the efficient use of these biomasses will positively impact the productive chains involved, benefiting society, generating employment, income, Besides as mitigating an environmental liability.
The pequi (Caryocar brasiliense Camb) is a fruit native to the Cerrado, with a production of 765 tons per year. However, their peels (76% of the fruit) are generally discarded. In this study, the physical-chemical characterization of the biomass of the pequi was carried out and physical activation processes were developed through slow pyrolysis and physical chemical activation with zinc chloride (ZnCl2) to produce bio-based products, including bio-oil (30.5%) and biochar (34%). Analytical techniques, such as mid-infrared spectroscopy, gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, surface area, pore size, approximate and elementary analysis, helped to elucidate, identify and quantify such compounds. The biochars produced showed a low surface area of 30,30 m²/g (BET) and 39.11 m²/g (Langmuir), however the superior calorific power of activated carbon (29.59 kJ.g -1 ) and raw coal (26,92 kJ.g -1 ) highlight the potential of biochar for use as a solid fuel. Bio-oil, on the other hand, presented valuable chemicals in its fraction, such as vaccenic acid (21.23%), palmitic acid (19.73%) and furfural acid (7.04%).
We investigated the effect of the reaction variable (time) on the extraction and hydrolysis process. The data showed that the methodologies of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) must be adequate for each type of biomass and each regional reality. For the contents of total sugars in the biomass of green coconut, babassu and Brazil nut shell epicarp, the highest yields were found under different conditions from those proposed by NREL. In the total lignin content, the highest yields obtained were those proposed by the NREL method for all biomasses. In the content of extracts for coconut and babassu, the use of longer extraction time provided greater removal. For the chestnut fractions, shorter times led to higher yields. It is important to note that, with the optimized results, these biomasses can be used in the production of high value-added bioproducts with higher yields.
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