Location: Plant Polymer Research
Project Number: 5010-44000-187-002-R
Project Type: Reimbursable Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Oct 1, 2020
End Date: Jan 31, 2021
Objective:
The goal of this project is to develop a soybean hull-based biochar that can compete favorably with common standard oil-sorbent materials.
Approach:
Our starting material will be soybean hulls. Two different pyrolysis methods will be tested; each pyrolysis method will produce five different biochar samples as a function of temperature and the biochar samples will be characterized in terms of density, surface area, chemical functional groups present, electrical conductivity, and sorptive capacity. The biochar samples will be compared to common industry sorbent controls. Physical characteristics of the biochar samples such as friability and dust release will also be measured, as well as oil recoverability.