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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Albany, California » Western Regional Research Center » Bioproducts Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #376146
Research Project: Bioproducts and Biopolymers from Agricultural Feedstocks

Location: Bioproducts Research

Title: Pretreatment affects activated carbon from piassava

Author
item CASTRO, JONNYS PAZ - Federal University Of Lavras
item NOBRE, JOAO RODRIGO - Federal University Of Lavras
item NAPOLI, ALFREDO - Federal University Of Lavras
item TRIGILHO, PAULO FRENANDO - Federal University Of Lavras
item TONOLI, GUSTAVO H - Federal University Of Lavras
item Wood, Delilah - De
item BIANCHI, MARIA LUCIA - Federal University Of Lavras

Submitted to: Polymers
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/29/2020
Publication Date: 7/2/2020
Citation: Castro, J., Nobre, J.C., Napoli, A., Trigilho, P., Tonoli, G.D., Wood, D.F., Bianchi, M. 2020. Pretreatment affects activated carbon from piassava. Polymers. 12(7):1483. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12071483.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12071483

Interpretive Summary: Activated carbons are widely used in environmental remediation and purification processes because of their high adsorption capacities and specificity for pollutants. Biomass residues from agricultural and forestry industries can be converted into activated carbon thereby adding value to the residues and using the residues for environmental remediation. We successfully converted piassava, a forestry byproduct in Brazil, to activated carbon and showed its efficacy for removing methylene blue and phenol from wastewater.

Technical Abstract: The specificity of activated carbon (AC) can be targeted by pretreatment of the precursors and/or activation conditions. Piassava (Leopoldinia piassaba and Attalea funifera Martius) are fibrous palms used to make brushes, and other products. Consolidated harvest and production residues provide economic feasibility for producing AC, a value-added product from forest and industrial residues. Corona electrical discharge and extraction pretreatments prior to AC activation were investigated to determine benefits from residue pretreatment. The resulting AC samples were characterized using elemental analyses and FTIR and tested for efficacy using methylene blue and phenol. All resulting AC had good adsorbent properties. Extraction as a pretreatment improved functionality in AC properties over Corona electrical discharge pretreatment. Due to higher lignin content, AC from L. piassaba had better properties than that from A. funifera.