Study of Nickel Adsorption Properties of Chemically Treated Woody Biomass

Abstract

A new effective method for fabricating adsorbents using woody biomass in order to reduce bio-waste must be developed. This paper discusses the chemical treatment of woody biomass and reports a new adsorbent with high metal adsorption ability. This adsorbent was prepared by performing three treatments. The first was potassium loading onto woody biomass through impregnation using a potassium carbonate solution. The second was heat treatment at 250 °C to increase the number of metal-capturing groups. The third was nitric acid treatment to remove potassium species. The metal adsorption ability of the resulting adsorbent, measured as the nickel loading, was as high as approximately 8.3 wt%. This adsorbent was heated at 600 °C after nickel loading and it was found that the nickel particles were approximately 3.5 nm in size and highly dispersed in the char. This indicated that the nickel-loaded char had potential to show high activity for biomass tar reforming.