Hierarchical porous carbons from biowaste: Hydrothermal carbonization and high-performance for Rhodamine B adsorptive removal

Hydrothermal carbonization procedure is effective to transform biowaste into coal-like hydrochar, which can be further used as renewable source to produce porous carbons on the use of water treatment. Here, hierarchical porous carbons were produced by shells of bamboo shoot (BSS) based on hydrothermal treatment and KOH activation, under the assistance of melamine. The surface area of carbons was up to 3250 m(2)/g with multi-level pore architecture, endowing them to be potential adsorbents in dyes removal i.e. Rhodamine B (RhB), where hierarchical mesopores were formed by foaming effect of melamine. Experimental kinetic data had better accordance with pseudo-second-order model, and the equilibrium state reached after contact time of 300 min with equilibrium RhB capacity up to be 3860 mg/g in 500 mg/L solution at 25 degrees C. Langmuir model was suitable to describe removal behavior of carbons containing well-developed mesopores as an increase of concentration. Importantly, the determined maximum capacity of RhB was highly up to 5398 mg/g, attributing to the synergetic aspects of porosity, pyrrolic-N configurations and hierarchical architecture. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Hydrothermal carbonization can convert bamboo shoot shells into hierarchical porous carbons, showing excellent adsorption capacity for dyes like Rhodamine B (RhB). The maximum adsorption capacity for RhB can reach up to 5398 mg/g due to the synergistic effects of porosity, pyrrolic-N configurations, and hierarchical structure.