Production and characterisation of activated carbon and carbon nanotubes from potato peel waste and their application in heavy metal removal.

Abstract

Herein, activated carbon (AC) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were synthesised from potato peel waste (PPW). Different ACs were synthesised via two activation steps: firstly, with phosphoric acid (designated PP) and then using potassium hydroxide (designated PK). The AC produced after the two activation steps showed a surface area as high as 833 m 2 g −1 with a pore volume of 0.44 cm 3 g −1 , where the raw material of PPW showed a surface area < 4 m 2 g −1. This can help aid and facilitate the concept of the circular economy by effectively up-cycling and valorising waste lignocellulosic biomass such as potato peel waste to high surface area AC and subsequently, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). Consequently, MWCNTs were prepared from the produced AC by mixing it with the nitrogen-based material melamine and iron precursor, iron (III) oxalate hexahydrate. This produced hydrophilic multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with a water contact angle of θ = 14.97°. Both AC and CNT materials were used in heavy metal removal (HMR) where the maximum lead absorption was observed for sample PK with a 84% removal capacity after the first hour of testing. This result signifies that the synthesis of these up-cycled materials can have applications in areas such as wastewater treatment or other conventional AC/CNT end uses with a rapid cycle time in a twofold approach to improve the eco-friendly synthesis of such value-added products and the circular economy from a significant waste stream, i.e., PPW.

The production and application of carbon nanomaterials from high alkali silicate herbaceous biomass

“…www.nature.com/scientificreports www.nature.com/scientificreports/ the preparation method for activated carbon and carbon nanotubes materials. The preparation method for activated carbon and carbon nanotubes is described elsewhere 44 . Prior to the chemical activation method, miscanthus raw biomass was dried and crushed as described above.…”

Techno-economic evaluation of biogas production from food waste via anaerobic digestion

“…The gas production rate slightly increased during the first 3 h (41 mL/1 g DM), then, sharply increased between 3 and 12 h to reach an approximate amount of 202 mL of gas per 1 g of dry matter. After 12 h, the gas production rate showed a slight increase up to 256 mL at 24 h. Potato peel waste is rich in carbohydrates and hence is easily biodegradable 39 . Figure 1 shows a slight increase in the gas production profile at the first 6 h (70 mL/1 g DM), followed by a sharp increase in gas production up to 24 h with a maximum of 201 mL/1 g of dry matter.…”

Advanced materials and technologies for supercapacitors used in energy conversion and storage: a review

“…Carbon-derived materials hold numerous benefits such as great quantity in raw materials (abundance), thermal stability, value-added chemicals, ease of processing and modification. Consequently, they have displayed countless attention and high potential in different energy-related applications (Wang et al 2008(Wang et al , 2018aMeng et al 2014;Li et al 2016c;Jiang et al 2012;Osman et al 2019aOsman et al , b, 2020aOsman 2020;Chen et al 2019b). Mesoporous carbon materials consider as promising targets for advanced applications due to their exceptional features, which enables them to engross universal apprehension over the last few decades (Qiang et al 2017;Zhang et al 2017c;Sevilla et al 2017;Wang et al 2006;Hooch Antink et al 2018).…”

“…Mesoporous carbon materials consider as promising targets for advanced applications due to their exceptional features, which enables them to engross universal apprehension over the last few decades (Qiang et al 2017;Zhang et al 2017c;Sevilla et al 2017;Wang et al 2006;Hooch Antink et al 2018). There are several physical arrangements for mesoporous carbons, containing nanoparticles (Górka and Jaroniec 2010;Lee et al 2011), nanosheets (Wang et al 2018a;Li et al 2017b;Ding et al 2013), nanotubes (Osman et al 2019a(Osman et al , 2020aGuo et al 2011), nanofibers (Wu et al 2015b), etc., which can adapt with several categories of industrial applications. Additionally, there are different pore size in the nanostructures of mesoporous carbons, including micropores, mesopores and macropores, which is of noteworthy prominence for their supercapacitor application.…”