An innovative and environmentally friendly bioorganic synthesis of activated carbon based on olive stones and its potential application for CO2 capture

Abstract

This work presents an innovative, fully environmentally friendly method of obtaining bioorganic activated carbon based on olive stones by applying banana plant extract as an activating agent. The activated carbon prepared in this way was compared with activated carbons prepared by chemical activation using potassium hydroxide (KOH) and phosphoric acid (H3PO4). The obtained results of physicochemical characterization were comparable to the currently commonly obtained activated carbons. For the novel activated carbon, the specific surface area was equal to 915 m2/g, and the pore area was 0.495 cm3/g. The CO2 adsorption capacity of the newly obtained activated carbon was also tested and it was 6.32 mmol/g and 4.33 mmol/g for 0 °C and 30 °C, respectively. This material has a high selectivity equal to 161.1 and stability after the 50th adsorption-desorption cycles. The material prepared in this way creates new possibilities for obtaining high-quality activated carbon and it does away with the requirement for using any hazardous inorganic activating agent like acids or bases, which makes it completely harmless to the environment.