Article pubs.acs.org/est
Cite This: Environ. Sci. Technol. 2019, 53, 7632−7640
Microbial Targeted Degradation Pretreatment: A Novel Approach to Preparation of Activated Carbon with Specific Hierarchical Porous Structures, High Surface Areas, and Satisfactory Toluene Adsorption Performance Weixia Zhang,† Hairong Cheng,† Qi Niu,† Mingli Fu,†,‡,§,∥ Haomin Huang,*,†,‡,§,∥ and Daiqi Ye*,†,‡,§,∥ Downloaded via KEAN UNIV on July 28, 2019 at 08:55:59 (UTC). See https://pubs.acs.org/sharingguidelines for options on how to legitimately share published articles.
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School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, 510006 Guangzhou, China National Engineering Laboratory for VOCs Pollution Control Technology and Equipment, 510006 Guangzhou, China § Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Environment and Pollution Control (SCUT), 510006 Guangzhou, China ∥ Guangdong Provincial Engineering and Technology Research Centre for Environmental Risk Prevention and Emergency Disposal, South China University of Technology, 510006 Guangzhou, China ‡
S Supporting Information *
ABSTRACT: Hierarchical porous carbon shows great potential for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) removal due to its high surface area and abundant porous framework. However, current fabrication protocols are complex and cause secondary pollution, limiting their application. Here, as a novel strategy, microbial lignocellulose decomposition as a pretreatment was introduced to fabricate hierarchical porous carbon (M-AC) from crude biomass substrate. The M-AC samples had high specific surface areas (maximum: 2290 m2· g−1) and surfaces characterized by needle-like protrusions with a high degree of disorder attributed to hierarchical porous structures. Dynamic toluene adsorption indicated that the carbon materials with microbial pretreatment had much better adsorption performances (maximum: 446 mg/g) than activated carbon without pretreatment. The M-AC material pretreated with a cellulose-degrading microbe showed the best adsorption capacity due to well-developed micropores, whereas the M-AC material pretreated with a lignin-degrading microbe showed excellent transport diffusion due to well-developed mesopores. Therefore, this simple and effective approach using microbial decomposition pretreatment is promising for the development of hierarchical porous carbons with adjustable pore structures and high specific surface areas to remove target VOCs in practical applications.
1. INTRODUCTION As one of the main types of pollutants in exhaust gas, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are not only key precursors of complex atmospheric pollution of O3 and fine particulate matter, but they also threaten the environment and have direct carcinogenic and neurotoxic effects in humans.1 Among VOC control technologies, adsorption is the most widely used. Porous carbon materials, especially activated carbon, are often used as adsorbents for VOCs, and are gaining in popularity due to their relatively low-cost production.2 However, using activated carbon for the adsorption of specific VOCs often results in the failure to achieve the expected removal efficiency because of inadequate adsorption performance. Pore properties (e.g., surface area, and pore volume and structure) are among the most important determinant factors of the VOC adsorption performance of porous carbon.3,4 Studies have demonstrated that porous carbon with a high surface area has a large VOC adsorption capability.5 Moreover, hierarchical porous structures, which consist of ultramicro© 2019 American Chemical Society
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