Hierarachial pore structure of activated carbon from bovine bone by microwave irradiation

Abstract

According to the EU Commission Decision 94/381/EC, the feed of livestock with meat and bone has been forbidden. Therefore, a high amount of bovine bone has to be disposed of or transformed into valuable by-products. For this purpose, in this study highly porous biochars were manufactured from bovine bones through microwave-assisted activation. The obtained biochars were characterized by nitrogen adsorption-desorption, scanning electron microscopy, and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy. Also, the effects of the experimental variables, such as microwave irradiation power, impregnation time and temperature, on the morphological and structural properties of the biochars were optimized by Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Variance analysis (ANOVA) of the produced biochars shows that all the experimental variables used in the production of micro-meso porous carbons had a considerable effect on pore surface area and volume. This effect was correlated successfully by nonlinear interacted quadratic model.