Co-Production of Activated Carbon and Bio-Oil from Agricultural Residues by Molten Salt Pyrolysis

The feasibility of co-producing activated carbon and bio-oil from rice stalk through molten salt pyrolysis is reported in this work. The results indicated that: (1) mixed ZnCl2-KCl molten salt could considerably improve the solid and liquid yield as well as the ratio of H2 and CH4 selectively (compared to the traditional ZnCl2 method), (2) an increase of pyrolysis temperature had the same impact on the yield as mixed molten salt, except for a decrease of the liquid yield, which may have a negative effect on the adsorption ability of activated carbon, and (3) the adsorption capability of activated carbon varied significantly with the activation temperature and, to a lesser degree, with the pyrolysis temperature. The conclusion can be drawn that pyrolysis in molten salt is a potential technology for agricultural residue utilization because of its capability of co-production, especially in activated carbon and bio-oil.