TY - JOUR
T1 - Activated carbon nanofibers from lignin/recycled-PET and their adsorption capacity of refractory sulfur compounds from fossil fuels
AU - Svinterikos, Efstratios
AU - Zuburtikudis, Ioannis
AU - Al-Marzouqi, Mohamed
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by the Emirates Center for Energy and Environment Research (grant number 31R147).
Funding Information:
The authors would like to acknowle dge the financial support provide d by the Emirate s Ce nte r for Ene rgy and Environ-me nt Re se arch (grant numbe r 31R147).
Publisher Copyright:
© BME-PT.
PY - 2022/3
Y1 - 2022/3
N2 - Carbon nanofibers (CNFs) from a blend of lignin with recycled poly(ethylene terephthalate) (r-PET) were produced from the thermal treatment of precursor electrospun lignin/r-PET nanofibrous mats. The impact of the lignin/r-PET mass ratio (ranging from 50/50 to 90/10) on the morphology, porosity and carbon structure of the CNFs was thoroughly investi-gated. The CNFs produced from a lignin/r-PET mass ratio of 50/50 possess the highest BET surface area (353 m2/g) as the presence of r-PET contributes to the development of microporosity, while all CNFs consist of disordered carbon structure. Their chemical activation with KOH boosted their BET surface area to 1413 m2/g and further treatment with HNO3 anchored oxygen functional groups on their surface. These activated CNFs were used for the adsorption of 4,6-dimethyldibenzothio-phene (DMDBT) from a model diesel fuel (n-dodecane) and it was found that they exhibit a high adsorption capacity at ambient conditions (120.3 mgDMDBT/gC). This is combined with remarkably fast adsorption kinetics as 94% of the equilibrium concentration is reached after just 1 min. These outstanding kinetics are justified by the nano-structured morphology of the activated CNFs which translates into a very large specific surface area that minimizes mass transfer limitations.
AB - Carbon nanofibers (CNFs) from a blend of lignin with recycled poly(ethylene terephthalate) (r-PET) were produced from the thermal treatment of precursor electrospun lignin/r-PET nanofibrous mats. The impact of the lignin/r-PET mass ratio (ranging from 50/50 to 90/10) on the morphology, porosity and carbon structure of the CNFs was thoroughly investi-gated. The CNFs produced from a lignin/r-PET mass ratio of 50/50 possess the highest BET surface area (353 m2/g) as the presence of r-PET contributes to the development of microporosity, while all CNFs consist of disordered carbon structure. Their chemical activation with KOH boosted their BET surface area to 1413 m2/g and further treatment with HNO3 anchored oxygen functional groups on their surface. These activated CNFs were used for the adsorption of 4,6-dimethyldibenzothio-phene (DMDBT) from a model diesel fuel (n-dodecane) and it was found that they exhibit a high adsorption capacity at ambient conditions (120.3 mgDMDBT/gC). This is combined with remarkably fast adsorption kinetics as 94% of the equilibrium concentration is reached after just 1 min. These outstanding kinetics are justified by the nano-structured morphology of the activated CNFs which translates into a very large specific surface area that minimizes mass transfer limitations.
KW - Carbon nanofibers
KW - Lignin
KW - Nanomaterials
KW - Processing technologies
KW - Recycled PET
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U2 - 10.3144/EXPRESSPOLYMLETT.2022.20
DO - 10.3144/EXPRESSPOLYMLETT.2022.20
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85125886825
SN - 1788-618X
VL - 16
SP - 248
EP - 264
JO - Express Polymer Letters
JF - Express Polymer Letters
IS - 3
ER -