TY - JOUR
T1 - Production and characterisation of activated carbon and carbon nanotubes from potato peel waste and their application in heavy metal removal.
AU - Osman, Ahmed I.
AU - Blewitt, Jacob
AU - Abu-Dahrieh, Jehad K.
AU - Farrell, Charlie
AU - Al-Muhtaseb, Ala’a H.
AU - Harrison, John
AU - Rooney, David W.
N1 - Funding Information:
AO would like to acknowledge the support given by EPSRC project “Advancing Creative Circular Economies for Plastics via Technological-Social Transitions” (EP/S025545/1) and the support of Sustainable Energy Research Centre, a Queen’s University Belfast Pioneering Research Programme. The authors would like to thank Dr. Myo T. Myint (Department of Physics, College of Science, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman) for performing the XPS analysis and Mrs. Barbara Farrell for the proofreading of this manuscript.
Funding Information:
AO would like to acknowledge the support given by EPSRC project ?Advancing Creative Circular Economies for Plastics via Technological-Social Transitions? (EP/S025545/1) and the support of Sustainable Energy Research Centre, a Queen?s University Belfast Pioneering Research Programme. The authors would like to thank Dr. Myo T. Myint (Department of Physics, College of Science, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman) for performing the XPS analysis and Mrs. Barbara Farrell for the proofreading of this manuscript.
Funding Information:
The authors wish to acknowledge the support of The Bryden Centre project (Project ID VA5048) which was awarded by the European Union’s INTERREG VA Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB), with match funding provided by the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland and the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation in the Republic of Ireland.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, The Author(s).
PY - 2019/12/1
Y1 - 2019/12/1
N2 - Herein, activated carbon (AC) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were synthesised from potato peel waste (PPW). Different ACs were synthesised via two activation steps: firstly, with phosphoric acid (designated PP) and then using potassium hydroxide (designated PK). The AC produced after the two activation steps showed a surface area as high as 833 m2 g−1 with a pore volume of 0.44 cm3 g−1, where the raw material of PPW showed a surface area < 4 m2 g−1. This can help aid and facilitate the concept of the circular economy by effectively up-cycling and valorising waste lignocellulosic biomass such as potato peel waste to high surface area AC and subsequently, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). Consequently, MWCNTs were prepared from the produced AC by mixing it with the nitrogen-based material melamine and iron precursor, iron (III) oxalate hexahydrate. This produced hydrophilic multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with a water contact angle of θ = 14.97 °. Both AC and CNT materials were used in heavy metal removal (HMR) where the maximum lead absorption was observed for sample PK with a 84% removal capacity after the first hour of testing. This result signifies that the synthesis of these up-cycled materials can have applications in areas such as wastewater treatment or other conventional AC/CNT end uses with a rapid cycle time in a two-fold approach to improve the eco-friendly synthesis of such value-added products and the circular economy from a significant waste stream, i.e., PPW. [Figure not available: see fulltext.].
AB - Herein, activated carbon (AC) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were synthesised from potato peel waste (PPW). Different ACs were synthesised via two activation steps: firstly, with phosphoric acid (designated PP) and then using potassium hydroxide (designated PK). The AC produced after the two activation steps showed a surface area as high as 833 m2 g−1 with a pore volume of 0.44 cm3 g−1, where the raw material of PPW showed a surface area < 4 m2 g−1. This can help aid and facilitate the concept of the circular economy by effectively up-cycling and valorising waste lignocellulosic biomass such as potato peel waste to high surface area AC and subsequently, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). Consequently, MWCNTs were prepared from the produced AC by mixing it with the nitrogen-based material melamine and iron precursor, iron (III) oxalate hexahydrate. This produced hydrophilic multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with a water contact angle of θ = 14.97 °. Both AC and CNT materials were used in heavy metal removal (HMR) where the maximum lead absorption was observed for sample PK with a 84% removal capacity after the first hour of testing. This result signifies that the synthesis of these up-cycled materials can have applications in areas such as wastewater treatment or other conventional AC/CNT end uses with a rapid cycle time in a two-fold approach to improve the eco-friendly synthesis of such value-added products and the circular economy from a significant waste stream, i.e., PPW. [Figure not available: see fulltext.].
KW - Activated carbon
KW - Biomass
KW - Carbon nanotubes
KW - Multi-wall carbon nanotubes
KW - Potato peel waste
KW - Pyrolysis
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U2 - 10.1007/s11356-019-06594-w
DO - 10.1007/s11356-019-06594-w
M3 - Article
C2 - 31745803
AN - SCOPUS:85075379611
SN - 0944-1344
VL - 26
SP - 37228
EP - 37241
JO - Environmental Science and Pollution Research
JF - Environmental Science and Pollution Research
IS - 36
ER -