Search

This study presents the copyrolysis of three biomasses (date pits, cow manure, and coffee waste) and explores the potential of utilizing natural waste catalysts—seashell (SS) and cuttlebone (CB)—to improve the kinetics and thermodynamics of the process. Mixing the feeds led to positive synergistic effects, particularly at a heating rate of 10 K/min or higher. By employing three model-free kinetic methods, the estimated activation energy (Ea) was lower for the ternary feed than the single feeds, and 20 wt.% of the feed with SS and CB catalysts was added. The Ea reduced from 162 kJ/mol for the ternary feed by 25.6% (~121 kJ/mol) and 21.6% (154 kJ/mol) in the presence of SS and CB, respectively. The thermodynamic parameters were positive for all the noncatalytic feeds, resulting in endothermic, nonspontaneous reactions and increased disorder or randomness. Catalysts influenced the thermodynamic parameters, making the process more energy efficient. The results are the utilization of cheap, eco-friendly feeds and catalysts for sustainable energy production using copyrolysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel activated carbon has been produced from pine cone, a sustainable resource, by phosphoric activation at 900 °C. The BET surface area of the activated carbon was 869 m2/g and the methylene blue isotherm area was 734 m2/g. The adsorption of two single-component acid azo dyes, Acid Blue 113 (AB113) and Acid Black 1 (AB1), onto this activated carbon was studied using fixed-bed adsorption. Breakthrough curves and equilibrium isotherms were obtained for the adsorption of these two dyes onto the prepared active carbon. The highest adsorption capacities achieved for AB113 and AB1 were 485 and 286 mg dye/g carbon, respectively. Two-column breakthrough curve models were applied to correlate the experimental adsorption breakthrough curves for each dye: the Thomas model, based on solid-phase internal diffusion, has been applied with considerable success; and the saturation isotherm model approach of Michaels was used with a reasonable degree of success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]