Hierarchical porous activated carbon derived from agro-waste for potential CO2 capture and efficient dye removal applications

An approach to functionalize the chemical carbonization of a sugarcane pith is reported to utilize the readily available and abundant agro-waste that produces hierarchical porous activated carbon (AC) using a nitrogen activation strategy for CO2 capture and environmental remediation. The obtained raw carbon (RC) and activated carbon (AC) were characterized for their structural, functional, elemental, morphological, and surface properties. The nitrogen-containing AC production with a surface area of 725 m(2)g(-1) and 0.3377 cm(3) g(-1) pore volume is achieved. The nitrogen activation strategy for AC enhanced the CO2 uptake capacity with high CO2 selectivity over N-2. The isosteric heat of adsorption (Q(st)), 28.79 kJmol(-1), suggests the strong physio-sorption interactions between CO2 and hierarchical porous AC. Furthermore, the AC adsorbent was found efficient for the fast removal of methyl orange (MO) dye with an equilibrium capacity of similar to 527 mg g(-1). The obtained AC showed appreciable reusability for MO adsorption efficiency. Combining the selective CO2 uptake with the high and fast dye removal capacity, this low-cost agro-waste-derived hierarchical porous AC has excellent potential for energy and environmental applications.