Fabrication of porous carbon from pre-hydrolysis liquor and its application for effective removal of methylene blue from aqueous solution

Pre-hydrolysis liquor (PHL) is a waste water from the production process of kraft-based dissolving pulp, which mainly contains saccharides and lignin. In the present work, a sustainable process to produce porous carbon using PHL as raw material and potassium hydroxide as an activator is proposed. The characteristics of the porous carbon produced and its adsorption efficiency on methylene blue (MB) were discussed.The results showed that the properties of PHL porous carbon (PPC) were primarily influenced by the carbonization temperature and the mass ratio of KOH/PHL. At the optimal conditions of a carbonization tem-perature of 900 degrees C and a mass ratio of 1:1 (KOH/PHL), the specific surface area, the pore volume, and the average pore diameter of PPC is 3.8 nm, 0.5 cm3 & sdot;g  1 and 1319 m2 & sdot;g  1, respectively. Additionally, the adsorption capacity of PPC for methylene blue (MB) at 45 degrees C reached to 680.23 mg & sdot;g  1, which indicates that PHL can be used as a raw material to produce porous carbon for efficient removal of MB. This research contributes to the development of converting waste into valuable resources.

Automated summary

In this study, a sustainable process for producing porous carbon using pre-hydrolysis liquor (PHL) as raw material and potassium hydroxide as an activator is proposed. The characteristics of the porous carbon and its efficiency in adsorbing methylene blue (MB) were discussed. The results showed that at the optimal conditions, the PHL porous carbon (PPC) exhibited desirable properties, indicating the potential of PHL as a raw material for the production of efficient porous carbon.