Use of sugarcane bagasse in active carbon synthesis to study of hydrogen peroxide generation

• Grant number: 23/07750-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2023
• End date: August 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Materials and Metallurgical Engineering - Nonmetallic Materials
• Principal Investigator: Robson da Silva Rocha
• Grantee: Beatriz Nogueira
• Host Institution: Escola de Engenharia de Lorena (EEL). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Lorena , SP, Brazil

Abstract

One of the main problems of the modern world is the treatment of artificial contaminants, due to their difficulty in mitigating their environmental impact. A possible way to treat such residues is through the use of Advanced Oxidative Processes (AOP) where the hydroxyl radical mineralizes the pollutants. However, to generate reasonable amounts of this radical, it is necessary to use large amounts of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). A possible route to bypass this barrier is through the electrogeneration of H2O2, where active carbon-based electrodes are used, and this can be obtained from environmental waste. The present scientific initiation project aims to use sugarcane bagasse to obtain active carbon, using KOH as an activating agent for the electrogeneration of H2O2. It seeks to evaluate the parameters of the obtaining process and its optimization that generate the largest amount of H2O2 with the lowest possible energy consumption.