Valorization of the biochar production chain through process improvement and development of new products

• Grant number: 24/10054-5
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: April 01, 2025
• End date: March 31, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Mechanical Engineering - Thermal Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Waldir Antonio Bizzo
• Grantee: Waldir Antonio Bizzo
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica (FEM). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Talita Mazon

Abstract

Brazil is the largest producer of charcoal in the world and around 28% of the pig iron produced in Brazil uses charcoal as an energy source and reducer. The iron and steel industry is responsible for 6.7% of global carbon dioxide emissions and routes to replace coal as a reducer have been researched. Brazil has a great competitive advantage in this search due to the use of biomass in the production of pig iron and possibilities for increasing the production of charcoal. However, even on a large scale, 75% of charcoal is produced using outdated technology, in batch carbonization furnaces and rudimentary process control. This proposal aims to obtain parameters of the carbonization process in the laboratory and in conditions closest to those possible for use on an industrial scale and with greater process control, generating useful data and parameters for equipment and system design. Such laboratory conditions include the use of a mechanically stirred bed reactor for better temperature homogenization and the use of mixtures of N2, CO2 and H2O as a working atmosphere. Furthermore, this proposal includes the valorization of biochar through the production of high surface area in a fluidized bed, and the functionalization of biochar through the use and synthesis of metal oxide nanostructures for special applications, such as supercapacitor electrodes and adsorbent materials for capture of pollutants. (AU)