(222h) Towards the Sustainable Activated Carbon Production

CarboTech is one of the world’s leading suppliers of activated carbons, being continuously committed to the development and implementation of sustainable processes and products. That is why we are increasingly relying on raw materials originating from renewable sources.

In light of a global requirement for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, carbon dioxide removal technologies have become prominent in achieving the net-zero goal. Among them, biochar manufacturing can potentially remove up to 6 % of global emissions annually, the approximate equivalent of 3 billion tons of CO₂ or the total emissions of 803 coal-fired power plants in one year – according to the International Biochar Initiative. In addition to acting as a long-term carbon storage, biochar is an excellent raw material for the production of sustainable activated carbon for water purification.

The results of the steam activation experimental research on certified biochar using fluidized bed technology are presented and discussed. It is demonstrated that the properties of steam-activated biochar as well as its elimination performance of dissolved organic compounds and micropollutants from water correspond to standard commercial products. Therefore, it is feasible to progressively replace fossil-fuel-based or chemically-activated materials towards reducing the environmental impact of the activated carbon industry. The quality of manufactured adsorbents is put into perspective of production economics. Profitable production is attainable provided that the reaction conditions are properly adjusted to the raw material type. The developed products can be used as Granular Activated Carbon or Powdered Activated Carbon in wastewater treatment systems.

Moreover, the CO₂ footprint of activated carbons can be further reduced by exercising a thermal reactivation of loaded adsorbents to restore their adsorption capacity, hence the product life cycle can be significantly extended. For this reason, CarboTech recommends the employment of granular or pelletized materials which can undergo the reactivation process in our fluidized bed reactors. Accordingly, we develop extruded activated carbons originating from renewable raw materials as well as binders formulated in agreement with green chemistry principles. The properties of those materials are compared to standard commercial products.