Olive Pomace-Derived Carbon Materials—Effect of Carbonization Pressure under CO2 Atmosphere

Abstract

The valorization of waste and by-products from various industrial activities is a must in our world of depleting natural resources and increasing volume of environmentally negative waste materials. The economic utilization of solid biowaste involves predominantly its use as a carbon-neutral energy resource or a precursor of porous carbon materials, with a potential application range including sorption processes, energy storage, and electric engineering. With the considerable number of lignocellulosic residues tested and applied as the most suitable porous material precursors, such as woods, shells, stones, peels, husks, and stalks of various crop plants, there is still space and need for further developments in the valorization of high amounts of other types of biowaste. Here, the olive pomace was considered because of both the vast volume and the environmentally undesired (when stored) phytotoxic effect of its components. While the literature on chemical (acidic and alkali treatment) and physical activation (temperature, carbon dioxide, and/or steam) of various biowaste precursors is considerable, the effects of pressure in the carbonization step are reported rarely, although the results observed are promising. The same applies to reports on the application of olive pomace for porous materials production, which indicate that olive pomace currently seems to be underestimated as a carbon materials precursor. In the study presented, the combined effects of pressure (0.1–3 MPa), temperature (800 °C), and carbon dioxide atmosphere in the carbonization of olive pomace were assessed on the basis of qualitative and quantitative data on micro- and mesoporosity of the carbon materials produced. The results showed the positive effect of increasing the process pressure on the development of a porous structure, and particularly, on the development of supermicropores and ultramicropores under the carbonization conditions applied. Carbon material with the most developed porous structure and the highest share of micropores was obtained under the maximum pressure tested.