Preparation porous bio-char and activated carbon from rice husk char study has been conducted in this study. Rice husk char contains high amount silica that retards the porousness of bio-char. Porousness of rice husk char could be enhanced by removing the silica from char and applying heat at high temperature. Furthermore, the char is activated by using chemical activation under high temperature. In this study no inert media is used. The study is conducted at low oxygen environment by applying biomass for consuming oxygen inside reactor and double crucible method (one crucible inside another) is applied to prevent intrusion of oxygen into the char. The study results shows that porous carbon is prepared successfully without using any inert media. The adsorption capacity of material increased due to removal of silica and due to the activation with zinc chloride compared to using raw rice husk char. The surface area of porous carbon and activated carbon are found to be 28, 331 and 645 m2 g−1 for raw rice husk char, silica removed rice husk char and zinc chloride activated rice husk char, respectively. It is concluded from this study that porous bio-char and activated carbon could be prepared in normal environmental conditions instead of inert media. This study shows a method and possibility of activated carbon from agro-waste, and it could be scaled up for commercial production.

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Abstract:In this study, the energy utilization and environmental aspects of the rice processing industries in Bangladesh was analyzed. Rice husk, a milling by-product of rice, is used as a source of thermal energy to produce steam for parboiling of raw rice. The rice is mostly dried on a concrete floor under the sunshine. In mechanical drying, rice husks are used as a source of primary energy. In Bangladesh, the annual estimated energy used in 2000 for the drying of rice by sunshine was 10.7 million GJ and for drying and parboiling by rice husks it was 48.2 million GJ. These amounts will increase to 20.5 and 92.5 million GJ in 2030, respectively. Electrical energy consumption for mechanical drying and milling of rice was calculated as 1.83 million GJ e and 3.51 million GJ e in 2000 and in 2030, respectively. Biogenic carbon dioxide emission from burning of rice husk is renewed every year by the rice plant. Both the biogenic and non-biogenic carbon dioxide emissions in 2000 were calculated as 5.7 and 0.4 million tonnes, respectively, which will increase to 10.9 and 0.7 million tonnes in 2030. The demand of energy for rice processing increases every year, therefore, energy conservation in rice processing industries would be a viable option to reduce the intensity of energy by increasing the efficiency of rice processing systems which leads to a reduction in emissions and an increased supply of rice husk energy to other sectors as well.

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