Fabrication of carbon black nanoparticles from green algae and sugarcane bagasse.

There are several industrial uses for carbon black (CB), an extremely fine powdered form of elemental carbon that is made up of coalesced particle aggregates and almost spherical colloidal particles. Most carbon black is produced from petroleum-derived feedstock, so there is a need to find an alternative method to produce CB, which relies on renewable resources such as algae and agricultural waste. A process involving hydrolysis, carbonization, and pyrolysis of green algae and sugarcane bagasse was developed, as the optimal hydrolysis conditions (16N sulfuric acid, 70 °C, 1 h, 1:30 g/ml GA or SC to sulfuric acid ratio), a hydrolysis ratio of 62% for SC and 85% for GA were achieved. The acidic solution was carbonized using a water bath, and the solid carbon was then further pyrolyzed at 900 °C. The obtained carbon black has a high carbon content of about 90% which is confirmed by EDX, XRD, and XPS analysis. By comparison carbon black from sugar cane bagasse (CBB) and carbon black from green algae Ulva lactuca (CBG) with commercial carbon black (CCB) it showed the same morphology which was confirmed by SEM analysis. The BET data, showed the high specific surface area of prepared CB, which was 605 (m2/g) for CBB and 424 (m2/g) for CBG compared with commercial carbon black (CBB) was 50 (m2/g), also the mean pore diameter of CBB, CBG and CCB indicated that CBB and CBG were rich in micropores, but CCB was rich in mesoporous according to IUPAC classification. This study might have created a technique that can be used to make carbon black from different kinds of biomass.

Composite nanofiber formation using a mixture of cellulose acetate and activated carbon for oil spill treatment.

Oil and organic pollutants are significant disasters affecting the aquatic ecosystem and human health. A novel nanofiber composite from cellulose acetate/activated carbon (CA/AC) was successfully fabricated by the electrospinning technique. CA/AC nanofiber composites were prepared from 10% (w/v) polymer solutions dissolving in DMA/acetone ratio 1:3 (v/v) with adding three different percentages of AC (3.7, 5.5, and 6.7%) to the total weight of CA. The prepared CA/AC nanofiber composite morphology reveals randomly oriented bead-free fibers with submicron fiber diameter. CA/AC nanofiber composites were further characterized by TGA, DSC, and surface area analysis. Water uptake was investigated for fabricated fibers at different pH. Oil adsorption was conducted in both static (oil only) and dynamic (oil/water) systems to estimate the adsorption capacity of prepared composites to treat heavy and light machine oils. The results showed increased oil adsorption capacity incorporating activated carbon into CA nanofiber mats. The maximum sorption capacity reached 8.3 and 5.5 g/g for heavy and light machine oils obtained by CA/AC5.5 (AC, 5.5%). A higher oil uptake was reported for the CA/AC composite nanofibers and showed a constant sorption capacity after the second recycles in the reusability test. Of isotherm models, the most applicable model was the Freundlich isotherm model. The result of kinetic models proved the fit of the pseudo-second-order kinetic model to the adsorption system.