Articles
All articles | Recent articles
Insulating Foams and Dense Geopolymers from Biochar By-Products
R. Farges1, A. Gharzouni1, B. Ravier2, P. Jeulin2, S. Rossignol1
1 Univ. Limoges, CNRS, IRCER, UMR7315, F-87000 Limoges, France
2 Etablissement MAILLOT, F-28500 Vernouillet, France
received December 22, 2017, received in revised form February 28, 2018, accepted March 12, 2018
Vol. 9, No. 2, Pages 193-200 DOI: 10.4416/JCST2017-00098
Abstract
Pyrolysis is an innovative environmentally-friendly process to thermally treat biomass residues at low temperatures and in the absence of oxygen without releasing suspended particles, smoke or greenhouse gases. The obtained solid residue is called biochar. The aim of this work is to characterize four biochar by-products and to evaluate the feasibility of biochar-based geopolymer materials. For this, four types of biochar by-products, produced from wheat straw, miscanthus and wood, under different pyrolysis conditions were studied. First, the physical and chemical properties of the biochar by-products were determined. Structural data were obtained with infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction. Then a feasibility study of consolidated materials and foams was initiated. The results show that the biochar by-product is essentially chemically composed of silicon, potassium and calcium. Differences are observed depending on the type of biomass used to obtain the biochar by-product. Geopolymer binders were successfully synthesized from biochar by-products and a metakaolin. Furthermore, biochar by-product-based geopolymer foams were obtained using silica fume without metakaolin. The obtained materials exhibit low thermal conductivity values (≈ 0.13 W/mK), which suggests their use for insulation applications.
Download Full Article (PDF)
Keywords
Biochar, FTIR, geopolymer, foams, thermal conductivity
References
1 Lehmann, J., Joseph, S.: Biochar for environmental management: Science and technology (first ed.), Earthscan. London (UK). 2009.
2 Lehmann, J., Joseph, S.: Biochar for environmental management: Science and technology (second ed.), Earthscan. London (UK). 2015.
3 Bridgwater, A.V.: Renewable fuels and chemicals by thermal processing of biomass, Chem. Eng. J., 91, 87 – 102, (2003).
4 Sricharoenchaikul, V., Pechyen, C., Aht-ong, D., Atong, D.: Preparation and characterization of activated carbon from the pyrolysis of physic nut (Jatropha curcas L.), Waste. Energ. Fuel., 22, 31 – 37, (2008).
5 Bridgwater, A.V.: Review of fast pyrolysis of biomass and product upgrading, Biomass Bioenerg., 38, 68 – 94, (2012).
6 Uchimiya, M., Chang, S., Klasson, K.T.: Screening biochars for heavy metal retention in soil: Role of oxygen functional group, J. Hazard Mater., 190, 432 – 441, (2011).
7 Verheijen, F., Jeffery Simon, L., Bastos, A.C., Van Der Velde, M., Diafas, I.: Biochar application to soils – a critical scientific review of effects on soil properties, processes and functions, (EUR - scientific and technical research reports), European Commission. 2010.
8 Zhao, X., Wang, J., Wang, S., Xing, G.: Successive straw biochar application as a strategy to sequester carbon and improve fertility: A pot experiment with two rice/wheat rotations in paddy soil, Plant Soil., 378, 279 – 294, (2014).
9 Lehmann, J., Pereira da Silva, J., Steiner, C., Nehls, T., Zech, W., Glaser, B.: Nutrient availability and leaching in an archaeological anthrosol and a ferralsol of the central amazon basin: fertilizer, manure and charcoal amendments, Plant Soil, 249, 343 – 357, (2003).
10 Sohi, S.P, Krull, E., Lopez-Capel, E., Bol, R.: A review of biochar and its use and function in soil, Adv. Agron., 105, 47 – 82, (2010).
11 Davidovits, J.: Geopolymer: Chemistry and applications, 2nd edition, Institut Geopolymer, St-Quentin (FR). 2008
12 Prud'homme, E., Michaud, P., Joussein, E., Clacens, J-M., Rossignol, S.: Role of alkaline cations and water content on geomaterial foams: monitoring during formation, J. Non-Cryst. Solids, 357, [4], 1270 – 1278, (2011).
13 Papa, E., Medri, V., Kpogbemabou, D., Morinière, V., Laumonier, J., Vaccari, A., Rossignol, S.: Porosity and insulating properties of silica-fume based foams, Energ. Buildings, 131, 223 – 232, (2016).
14 Masi, G., Rickard, W.D.A., Vickers, L., Bignozzi, M.C., Van Riessen, A.: A comparison between different foaming methods for the synthesis of light weight geopolymers, Ceram. Int., 40, 13891 – 13902, (2014).
15 Gharzouni, A., Joussein, E., Samet, B., Baklouti, S., Rossignol, S.: Effect of the reactivity of alkaline solution and metakaolin on geopolymer formation, J. Non-Cryst. Solids, 410, 127 – 134, (2015).
16 Prud'homme, E., Michaud, P., Joussein, E., Peyratout, C., Smith, A., Rossignol, S.: In situ inorganic foams prepared from various clays at low temperature, Appl. Clay Sci., 51, 15 – 22, (2011).
17 Duxson, P., Mallicoat, S.W., Lukey, G.C., Kriven, W.M., Van Deventer, J.S.J.: The effect of alkali and Si/Al ratio on the development of mechanical properties of metakaolin-based geopolymers, Colloid Surface A, 292, 8 – 20, (2007).
18 Vidal, L., Joussein, E., Colas, M., Cornette, J., Sanz, J., Sobrados, I., Gelet, J.-L., Absi, J., Rossignol, S.: Controlling the reactivity of silicate solutions: A FTIR, raman and NMR study, Colloid Surface A, 503, 101 – 109, (2016).
19 Brewer, C.E., Chuang, V.J., Masiello, C.A., Gonnermann, H., Gao, X., Dugan, B., Driver, L.E, Panzacchi, P., Zygourakis, K., Davies, C.A.: New approaches to measuring biochar density and porosity, Biomass Bioenerg., 66, 176 – 185, (2014).
20 Rafiq, M.K., Bachmann, R.T., Rafiq, M.T., Shang, Z., Joseph, S., Long, R.: Influence of pyrolysis temperature on physico-chemical properties of corn stover (Zea mays L.) biochar and feasibility for carbon capture and energy balance, Plos One, 11, 6, (2016).
21 Gray, M., Johnson, M.G., Dragila, M.I., Kleber, M.: Water uptake in biochars: the roles of porosity and hydrophobicity, Biomass Bioenerg., 61, 196 – 205, (2014).
22 Werner, K., Pommer, L., Broström, M.: Thermal decomposition of hemicelluloses, J. Anal. Appl. Pyrol., 110, 130 – 137, (2014).
23 Yang, H., Yan, R., Chen, H., Lee, D.H., Zheng, C.: Characteristics of hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin pyrolysis, Fuel, 86, 1781 – 1788, (2007).
24 Wang, S., Dai, G., Yang, H., Luo, Z.: Lignocellulosic biomass pyrolysis mechanism: A state-of-the-art review, Prog. Energ. Combust., 62, 33 – 86, (2017).
25 Sarmah, A.K., Srinivasan, P., Smernik, R.J., Manley-Harris, M., Antal, M.J., Downie, A., Van Zwieten, L.: Retention capacity of biochar-amended new zealand dairy farm soil for an estrogenic steroid hormone and its primary metabolite, Soil Res., 48, 648 – 658, (2010).
26 Stuart, B.H.: Infrared spectroscopy: Fundamentals and applications. Ed. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester (UK), 2004.
27 Lou, K., Rajapaksha, A.U., Ok, Y.S., Chang, S.X.: Pyrolysis temperature and steam activation effects on sorption of phosphate on pine sawdust biochars in aqueous solutions, Chem. Spec. Bioavailab., 28, 42 – 50, (2016).
28 Bahng, M.-K., Donohoe, B.S., Nimlos, M.R.: Application of a fourier transform-infrared imaging tool for measuring temperature or reaction profiles in pyrolyzed wood, Energ Fuel, 25, 370 – 378, (2011).
29 Haberhauer, G., Rafferty, B., Strebl, F., Gerzabek, M.H.: Comparison of the composition of forest soil litter derived from three different sites at various decompositional stages using FTIR spectroscopy, Geoderma., 83, 331 – 342, (1998).
30 Smidt, E., Meissl, K.: The applicability of fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy in waste management, Waste Manage., 27, 268 – 276, (2007).
31 Huang, C.K., Kerr P.F.: Infrared study of the carbonate minerals, Am Mineral., 45, [3 – 4], 311 – 24, (1960).
32 Socrates, G.: Infrared and raman characteristic group frequencies: Tables and charts. John Wiley and Sorts, Chichester (UK), 2000.
33 Lu, P., Hsieh, Y.-L.: Highly pure amorphous silica nano-disks from rice straw, Powder Technol., 225, 149 – 155, (2012).
34 Qian, L., Chen, B.: Dual role of biochars as adsorbents for aluminum: the effects of oxygen-containing organic components and the scattering of silicate particles, Environ. Sci. Technol., 47, [15], 8759 – 8768, (2013).
35 Periasamy, A., Muruganand, S., Palaniswamy, M.: Vibrational studies of Na2SO4, K2SO4, NaHSO4 and KHSO4 crystals, Rasayan J. Chem., 2, [4], 981 – 989, (2009).
36 El Khouri, A., Elaatmani, M., Della Ventura, G., Sodo, A., Rizzi, R., Rossi, M., Capitelli, F.: Synthesis, structure refinement and vibrational spectroscopy of new rare-earth tricalcium phosphates Ca9RE(PO4)7 (RE = La, Pr, Nd, Eu, Gd, Dy, Tm, Yb), Ceram Int., 43, 15645 – 15653, (2017).
37 Duxson, P., Lukey, G.C., van Deventer, J.S.J.: Thermal conductivity of metakaolin geopolymers used as a first approximation for determining gel interconnectivity, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 45, [23], 7781 – 7788, (2006).
Copyright
Göller Verlag GmbH
