Biochar Production and Applications for Clean Industry

A special issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental and Green Processes".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 October 2021) | Viewed by 7912

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, Torino, Italy
Interests: composites materials; carbon nanotubes; graphene; carbon fibers; cement composites

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Mankind is facing the transition to a more sustainable model of development. Biochar is one of the most promising solutions for guiding the material science research to new achievements. Biochar is the solid residue that is recovered after the thermal cracking of biomasses in an oxygen-free atmosphere. Biochar has been used for many years as a soil amendment and in general soil applications. Nonetheless, biochar is far more than a mere soil amendment. Biochar production is a process full of opportunities with the emergence of carbonaceous material from both lignocellulosic and non-lignocellulosic biomasses. Accordingly, this Special Issue will aim to collect the most advanced and cutting-edge research about the production, modification and uses of biochar. We would like to present to the scientific community the incredible potential of biochar through the contribution of the greatest expert in the field. The polyhedral nature of biochar represents a very strong advantage for spreading the biochar use across the material science field.

We firmly believe that biochar could represent a great opportunity to combined sustainability goals together with substantial scientific advancements.

Dr. Mattia Bartoli
Dr. Luca Lavagna
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Processes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • biochar
  • thermochemistry
  • reactors
  • pyrolysis
  • gasification
  • waste management

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

10 pages, 3151 KiB  
Article
Carbon Black Replacement in Natural Rubber Composites Using Dry-Milled Calcium Carbonate, Soy Protein, and Biochar
by Steven C. Peterson
Processes 2022, 10(1), 123; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr10010123 - 7 Jan 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2806
Abstract
Recent discoveries have shown that calcium carbonate and soy protein interactions can be used to reinforce rubber composites with improvements on the effective crosslink density and moduli. However, the method to incorporate the soy protein into the rubber matrix may be costly to [...] Read more.
Recent discoveries have shown that calcium carbonate and soy protein interactions can be used to reinforce rubber composites with improvements on the effective crosslink density and moduli. However, the method to incorporate the soy protein into the rubber matrix may be costly to scale up, since it involves microfluidization and drying steps prior to rubber compounding. In this work, a simpler process involving dry-milled calcium carbonate and soy protein was used to explore filler blends of calcium carbonate, soy protein, biochar, and carbon black. By blending these filler materials in various ratios, rubber composite samples with 40–50% of the carbon black replaced by sustainable alternatives were made. These composites had essentially the same tensile strength, with better toughness and elongation properties relative to the carbon black control. These composites would reduce dependence on petroleum and be more amenable to the rubber composite compounding infrastructure. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biochar Production and Applications for Clean Industry)
Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 2821 KiB  
Article
Synthesis, Characterization and Ecotoxicity Evaluation of Biochar-Derived Carbon Dots from Spruce Tree, Purple Moor-Grass and African Oil Palm
by Kaory Barrientos, Maria I. Gaviria, Juan Pablo Arango, Jersson Placido, Sandra Bustamante, Martha E. Londoño and Marisol Jaramillo
Processes 2021, 9(7), 1095; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr9071095 - 24 Jun 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4195
Abstract
Biochar-derived C-Dots from Picea, Molinia caerulea and Elaeis guineensis were synthesized through a hydrothermal process, and their physicochemical and optical characteristics and environmental effects were compared. These C-Dots were characterized by techniques such as Attenuated Total Reflection–Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR), UV-Vis spectrophotometry, fluorescence [...] Read more.
Biochar-derived C-Dots from Picea, Molinia caerulea and Elaeis guineensis were synthesized through a hydrothermal process, and their physicochemical and optical characteristics and environmental effects were compared. These C-Dots were characterized by techniques such as Attenuated Total Reflection–Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR), UV-Vis spectrophotometry, fluorescence spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS), Z potential, and High-Resolution Transmission Electronical Microscopy (HR-TEM). The ecotoxicity tests were performed using the Microtox™ test, making this study one of the few that use this method. The C-Dots from Molinia caerulea showed the best quantum yield (QY) of 8.39% and moderate ecotoxicity, while Elaeis guineensis has the lowest QY (2.31%) but with zero toxicity. Furthermore, the C-Dots from Picea presents good optical properties but showed high toxicity and limits its use. Finally, all C-Dots showed functional groups that could be biofunctionalized with biomolecules, especially C-Dots from Molinia caerulea and Elaeis guineensis show potential for use in the development of optical biosensors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biochar Production and Applications for Clean Industry)
Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Back to TopTop