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Chemical activation of castor stalk-derived porous carbon for highly efficient CO2 adsorption in sustainable carbon capture applications

  • Panchanan Pramanik EMAIL logo , Renu Gupta and Ajay Bansal
Published/Copyright: May 28, 2025
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International Journal of Chemical Reactor Engineering
From the journal International Journal of Chemical Reactor Engineering Volume 23 Issue 5

Abstract

Greenhouse gas emissions have become a pressing concern in recent times, with CO2 emerging as the primary culprit behind global warming, rising sea levels, and disruptions to ecosystems. Of all the greenhouse gases, CO2’s impact on global warming stands out as the most significant. To address this issue, activated carbon (AC) has gained prominence as an effective CO2 adsorption agent, owing to its porous structure, expansive surface area, cost-effectiveness, and environmentally friendly properties. In this current research, activated carbon was produced from castor stalk biomass through a single-stage chemical activation process known as pyrolysis. This method is lauded for its cost-efficiency, simplicity, and minimal environmental impact. Potassium hydroxide (KOH) and aluminum sulfate (ALUM) were employed as the activating agents. Subsequently, the synthesized activated carbon was subjected to Methylene Blue adsorption testing to evaluate its CO2 adsorption capacity, among other potential applications. The characterization of the activated carbon derived from castor stalk involved a series of techniques, including CHNS analysis, proximate analysis, SEM, FTIR, XRD, and BET surface area analysis. These analyses unveiled the impressive attributes of the castor stalk-derived activated carbon, featuring an exceptionally high surface area of 1,687 m2/g, a substantial pore volume of 1.015 cm3/g, and a pore diameter of 2.71 nm. Furthermore, the Methylene Blue adsorption test yielded a remarkable value of 447.72 mg/g with 89.5 % adsorption efficiency. High CO2 adsorption capacity (2.46 mmol/g) was observed over castor stalk-derived activated carbon. The comparative study shows higher CO2 adsorption capacity in comparison to activated carbon derived from various biomasses using KOH as the activating agent. So, the present study shows activated carbon derived from Castor stalk using KOH and Alum as activating agent can be a promising method for CO2 adsorption.

Keywords: biomass; castor stalk; activated carbon; pyrolysis; methylene blue; CO2 adsorption
Corresponding author: Panchanan Pramanik, Department of Chemical Engineering, Dr. B R Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, Punjab, 144008, India; and Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, 110016, India, E-mail:

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge Dr. B.R Ambedkar National Institute of Technology Jalandhar for providing all research facilities. The authors also acknowledge IIT Delhi, SAIF-IIT Bombay, CSMCRI Bhavnagar for providing characterization facilities.

  1. Research ethics: Not applicable.

  2. Informed consent: All authors gave explicit consent to submit. All authors gave explicit consent to participate.

  3. Author contributions: Panchanan Pramanik: Resources, Methodology, Investigation, Data Curation, Writing-Original draft, Renu Gupta: Analyzing characterization, Editing draft, Ajay Bansal: Conceptualization, Supervision, Editing draft.

  4. Use of Large Language Models, AI and Machine Learning Tools: Not required.

  5. Conflict of interest: All authors involved in this manuscript have approved it and declare that they have no conflict of interests.

  6. Research funding: The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.

  7. Data availability: Not required.

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Received: 2025-03-01
Accepted: 2025-05-16
Published Online: 2025-05-28

© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

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https://doi.org/10.1515/ijcre-2025-0043
Keywords for this article
biomass; castor stalk; activated carbon; pyrolysis; methylene blue; CO2 adsorption

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Reviews
  3. Advances in extraction and sustainable utilization of cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) for industrial applications
  4. A critical review on pyrolysis of maize biomass for bio-oil and biochar production with its potential outcomes
  5. Nanomaterials in solar still: recent advances and future perspectives
  6. Articles
  7. Production and characterization of sunflower stalk biochar and ash: a study on batch versus semi-batch gasifier systems
  8. Chemical activation of castor stalk-derived porous carbon for highly efficient CO2 adsorption in sustainable carbon capture applications
  9. Effect of hole diameter and number in vortex finders on flow field and performance of Stairmand gas cyclone
  10. Carbonation reaction in phosphogypsum waste conversion to calcium acetate: experiment and kinetic model study
  11. Numerical investigation of bubble growth and formation under quasi-static conditions
  12. Short Communications
  13. Equilibrium of methylene blue removal onto crayfish shell biochar
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