Strategic use of biochar for CO2 capture and sequestration

Dramatic increase of CO2 emissions to sate the global carbon demand for chemicals, goods, and fuels has been regarded as one of the main contributors triggering global warming. Note that CO2 emissions are over the Earth's full capacity to assimilate carbons via the natural carbon cycle. In these respects, CO2 capture and sequestration have been considered as one of the strategic principles to cancel out CO2 release from the anthropogenic activities in line with the use of fossil fuels. Thus, it is desirable to develop the efficient CO2 sorptive materials that are economically viable. Among CO2 sorptive materials, biochar (i.e., porous carbon-based materials) has been considered as one of the promising candidates. Indeed, a great deal of researches on biomass has been performed. Based on these rationales, this review laid great emphasis on informing the recent studies of activated biochars for CO2 adsorption, which were fabricated from various biomasses. Also, this review offered the up-to-date knowledge on the physicochemical properties of activated biochars in line with their synthesis procedures. Lastly, the effects of biochar properties on CO2 capture and separation was summarized with in-depth assessment of the activated biochars.