Journal of the Energy Institute 105 (2022) 399–405

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Journal of the Energy Institute

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Direct air capture of CO2 by KOH-activated bamboo biochar

Chen Zhang, Shuzhuang Sun, Su He, Chunfei Wu *
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Queens University Belfast, Belfast, BT7 1NN, UK

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Direct air capture (DAC) of CO2 is considered one of the most promising carbon capture methods to reduce
Bamboo ambient CO2 concentration for climate change mitigation. Biochar represents an attractive adsorbent for DAC
Biochar because it is environmentally friendly and cost-effective. In this work, KOH-activated bamboo biochar shows the
Direct air capture
CO2 capture capacity of 3.49 mmol g− 1 (25 ◦ C, 1 bar), and it is used as an adsorbent to perform direct air capture
Relative humidity
Sorbent stability
using a fixed-bed reactor with an ambient CO2 capture capacity of up to 51.74 μmol g− 1. Furthermore, the effect
of relative humidity on CO2 adsorption by biochar was investigated and exhibited promising stability under 2.7%
relative humidity. However, the biochar activity for CO2 capture is reduced to 63.88% under 67.1% humidity
after 50 cycles.

stable to achieve an efficient and economical process. As an acidic gas,

1. Introduction
Carbon dioxide emission is the main factor of global warming, which
requires urgent actions to combat climate change [1]. The concentration
of ambient CO2 surpassed over 400 ppm in 2013 [2], and mitigating
greenhouse gas emission is exigency. The measures for reducing carbon
emissions and ambient CO2 concentration mainly include
post-combustion [3], pre-combustion [4], oxy-combustion [5], and
direct air capture [2] (DAC). Thereinto, DAC is in the early stages of
development and is expected to resolve the high atmospheric CO2
concentration.
DAC represents a pathway to remove CO2 from the atmosphere,
which Lackner initially reported in 1999 [6]. Negative emissions could
be achieved by applying DAC for decentralized and mobile emission
sources [7]. In 2021, the most significant direct air capture and storage
facility in the world was projected to have the capacity to remove 4000
tonnes of CO2 per year [8]. However, DAC still faces many challenges;
for example, Keith [9] reported two critical issues of DAC: 1) it is
difficult to overcome the thermodynamic energy barrier at 400 ppm
atmospheric CO2 concentration during adsorption; 2) the cost of energy
and infrastructure is significantly high when introducing adequate air
through adsorbents. However, governments continue to intensively
support the development of direct air capture [10]. Therefore, the
innovation of adsorbents for DAC is one of the critical ways to break the
thermodynamic energy barrier of CO2 adsorption.
Since the concentration of atmospheric CO2 is deficient, adsorbents
need to be economically acceptable, practical, highly selective, and
CO2 binds easily with alkaline substances [11]; thus, liquid absorbents
such as liquid ammonia [12], aqueous/nonaqueous diamine solution
[13], and hydroxide solutions [14,15] have been operated to absorb
CO2. However, the disadvantages of liquid sorbents are short working
life and corrosion to facilities [16]. Therefore, solid adsorbents are
suitable candidates for DAC due to their low cost, high stability, and less
waste production than liquid sorbents [17]. The development of solid
adsorbents is the necessary function of direct CO2 adsorption [17]. For
example, porous materials such as metal-organic frameworks (MOF)
[2], zeolite [18], metal oxides, and carbonous materials have been
investigated for DAC because of their high surface area and adequate
porous structure. Additionally, the amine-based ion-exchanged resin has
been proved to have a good DAC capacity [19], and different types of
MOFs utilized on direct air capture of CO2 also illustrate promising CO2
uptakes [2]. The remarkable CO2 capture performance of the specimens
above is because of the physical structure conducive to CO2 capture and
the effect of elemental composition and chemical properties [20].
However, Despite the bright performance in carbon capture, production
costs and longevity of the adsorbents are also issues worth considering.
Recently, carbon capture using porous solid biochar has been in great
demand [21]. Biochar is a promising solid sorbent for carbon capture,
produced by biomass pyrolysis in an inert atmosphere [22]. The ad­
vantages of biochar also include its simple production, high yield, good
stability, and adaptability [23]. Moreover, biochar with a high adsorp­
tion capacity is one of the current criteria for defining carbon capture
adsorbents [24]. Appropriate activation methods are the pathways to
enhance the CO2 capture ability of biochar. Currently, physical and

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: c.wu@qub.ac.uk (C. Wu).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joei.2022.10.017
Received 16 August 2022; Received in revised form 19 October 2022; Accepted 26 October 2022
Available online 30 October 2022
1743-9671/© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Energy Institute. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
C. Zhang et al.
Abbreviations
DAC direct air capture
MOF metal-organic framework
TGA thermal gravity analysis
TPO temperature programmed oxidation
DTG derivative thermogravimetry
BET Brunauer-Emmett-Teller
SEM scanning electron microscopy
ATR-FTIR attenuated total reflection - Fourier transform infrared
spectroscopy
chemical activation are the primary techniques to modify biochar ma­
terial. Wherein the chemical activation method is preferred to generate
porous biochar materials. Biochar activated by metal hydroxides has
been recognized as generating microporosity favorable for CO2 [25] and
aqueous contaminants adsorption [26,27], which makes the activation
method widely applicable. However, selecting activation conditions is
essential in preparing specific porous biochar. As Ding [28] reported, the
textural properties of KOH-activated porous biochars depend on the
activation conditions. It is feasible to introduce more activation agents
during the chemical activation; however, it can also be observed that the
specific surface area and pore volume shrink at high chemical activation
because the physical collapses when an excess of chemical is introduced
[29].
Nevertheless, although many studies have reported the application
of biochar in carbon capture, biochar as a sorbent for direct air capture
of CO2 is still a research gap. In addition, factors that affect the perfor­
mance of biochar during direct air capture still need to be explored for
the development of the DAC process. The relative humidity has been
verified to affect the carbon capture process. However, obtaining the
opposite results of the moisture effect on biochar performance is inter­
esting when using different biochar to process carbon capture. The re­
sults reported by Wang and co-workers illustrated that the N-doped
porous biochar showed a higher CO2 capture ability from a moisture flue
gas [30]; whilst the high relative humidity exhibited a negative effect on
CO2 capture ability and breakthrough time in both wheat straw and vine
shoots derived biochars [31].
Currently, little attention is paid to the feasibility and stability of
biochar applied in DAC, and the influence of relative humidity on the
DAC process by biochar is unexplored. In this study, bamboo charcoal
was used as the precursor of biochar, and the biochar was activated by
potassium hydroxide (KOH). Additionally, bamboo biochar was utilized
in direct air capture to explore the influence of relative humidity on
stability.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Materials
The bamboo sawdust was pressed to form high density and contin­
uously carbonized by Ken Chiku Company. Bamboo charcoal is used as
raw material for the DAC experiments. Potassium hydroxide pellet (ACS
reagent, ≥85%) and drying pearls orange (Aluminosilicate) were pur­
chased from Sigma-Aldrich Company Ltd. UK.
2.2. Biochar activation
The chemical activation of bamboo charcoal was based on previous
work [32]. In brief, around 6 g BBC-Origin was physically mixed with
KOH at 1:1, 1: 0.5, and 1:0.2 using a pestle and mortar. The mixture
powder was loaded into a quartz tube and placed at the centre of the
horizontal tube furnace. Nitrogen was introduced at a flow rate of 100
400
Journal of the Energy Institute 105 (2022) 399–405
ml min− 1, and the tube furnace was heated at 10 ◦ C min− 1 from room
temperature to 700 ◦ C for 1 h. Compounds containing K element were
washed out of the activated bamboo biochar with adequate deionized
water and 0.1 mol L− 1 hydrochloride until the pH value of the filtrate
was neutral. The samples were dried overnight at 105 ◦ C and named
BBC-KOH-1:1, BBC-KOH-1:0.5, and BBC-KOH-1:0.2, respectively.
2.3. Characterizations of bamboo biochar samples
The content and composition of C, H, and N in the biochar samples
were determined by CHNS Element Analyzer (Perkin Elmer PE2400).
Temperature programmed oxidation (TPO) analysis and proximate
analysis were tested by TA Instruments TGA 2950 thermogravimetric
analyzer (TGA) under air and N2 atmosphere to measure moisture, ash,
fixed carbon, and volatile matter contents. Surface area, pore volume,
and pore size distribution were obtained from N2 adsorption and
desorption analysis based on the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) theory
and relative pressure P/P0 0.99. The surface morphology and pore
structure of the material was detected by scanning electron microscope
(SEM). The presence of functional and aromatic groups on the surface of
biochar samples was determined by ATR-FTIR (Agilent Cary 630 FTIR
spectrometer), and the spectra in the range of 3000–1400 cm− 1 band
were analyzed. CO2 adsorption and N2 adsorption isotherm were
investigated by Micromeritics ASAP 2020 adsorption analyzer at 298K
after degassing at 300 ◦ C for 6 h.
2.4. Ambient CO2 adsorption and desorption
Around 2 g BBC sample was placed in a quartz tube (12 mm OD) with
quartz wool blocked on both sides. The ambient air (the source of CO2)
was introduced into the fixed bed with a flow rate of 100 ml min− 1.
Temperature swing adsorption was applied to detect the performance of
BBCs, and CO2 was captured at room temperature and released at 70 ◦ C.
The changes in CO2 concentration (ppm) before and after adsorption
were detected and recorded by KANE 457. Hence, the per unit mass
capture capacity of ambient CO2 by bamboo biochar samples (Cm) can
be calculated according to the following equation:
∫t
γ*MCO2
Cm = F(Q − Q0 )dt* (1)
V m *mBBC
0
Where Q and Q0 are the outlet and inlet CO2 concentration in ppm; t is
the equilibrium time; γ is the gas flow rate; MCO2 is molecular weight
44.01 g mol− 1; Vm is the gas molar volume; mBBC is the biochar mass
fixed in the quartz tube.
In addition, two relative humidity conditions (67.1% and 2.7%) are
used for the lifetime test. The drying tube containing aluminosilicate
pellets was used to reduce the relative humidity. Here, the psychrometer
tested ambient humidity was 67.1%, reduced to 2.7% after purging
ambient air through the drying tube. In the cyclical test, the amount of
capture CO2 per gram of BBC-KOH-1:1 within 40 min is considered CO2
capture capacity. In order to measure the working life of the sorbent, the
definition of sorbent ability is introduced, which is a ratio of each CO2
capture capacity for 50 cyclical tests to the first tested result.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Results of sorbents characterization
The proximate analysis results are shown in Table 1, and it demon­
strates that adding KOH changed the biochar composition. With
increasing KOH amount for activation, the fixed carbon content de­
creases from 81.54% to 69.57%. It is suggested that more carbon was
reacted with potassium hydroxide after high-temperature calcination,
which also increased ash content from 7.55% to 14.99%. Furthermore,
Table 1 also displays the element analysis results. The carbon content in
C. Zhang et al. Journal of the Energy Institute 105 (2022) 399–405

Table 1
Proximate analysis and elements (CHSN) analysis.
Sample Proximate analysis (%) Elements Analysis (%)

Moisture Volatile Matter Fixed carbon Ash C H N Oa

BBC-Origin 0.26 9.19 81.17 9.38 79.65 2.11 0.38 8.48

BBC-KOH-1:0.2 2.21 8.52 81.54 7.55 81.51 0.47 0.43 10.04
BBC-KOH-1:0.5 3.98 7.79 76.71 11.60 75.92 0.65 0.42 11.41
BBC-KOH-1:1 0.91 14.53 69.57 14.99 73.22 1.23 0.35 10.21
a
Oxygen content was obtained by difference.

the BBC samples decreases from 79.65% to 73.22%, and the hydrogen
content varies between 0.47% and 1.23%) for the samples activated by
different ratios of KOH. In addition, the nitrogen content is reduced with
the increase of KOH to biochar ratio. The element content (primarily
carbon) is typically similar to proximate analysis. Gao (Gao et al., 2020)
and Ding (Ding and Liu, 2020) reported that carbon reacted with KOH to
enhance the porosity of adsorbents and the intermediate chemicals
K2CO3/K2O at the first stage can also further consume carbon within
biochar. The following equations indicate the possible reactions during
biochar activation:
6KOH + 2C→2K + 3H2 + 2K2 CO3
K2 CO3 →K2 O + CO2 #(3)
K2 CO3 + 2C→2K + 3CO#(4) (2)
K2 O + C→2K + CO#(5)
C + CO2 ⇌2CO#(6)
Fig. 1(a) shows the temperature-programmed oxidation (TPO) re­
sults for the biochar samples. During the oxidation process, the weight
loss of the BBC-Origin is in the range of 450 ◦ C–550 ◦ C, and it reaches the
maximum weight loss rate at 530 ◦ C. As the ratio of biochar to KOH
increases, the oxidation region shifts to a lower temperature, and two
peaks of DTG can be observed around 350 ◦ C. Compared to BBC-Origin,
the weight loss range of BBC-KOH-1:0.2 shifts to a low temperature
between 350 and 530 ◦ C. BBC-KOH-1:0.5 shows the appearance of
multi-peaks, indicating that the carbon or volatile matter oxidation is
relatively complex. However, the peak around 530 ◦ C is almost invisible,
which displays the difference between BBC-Origin and BBC-KOH-1:0.2.
When the ratio of KOH to BBC is 1:1, the dual peaks of the DTG curve
appear at 310 ◦ C and 405 ◦ C, respectively, and the range of weight loss
moves to a low temperature further. Tian [33] reported the TG/DTG
curves at different KOH impregnation ratios for biochar activation. The
DTG peaks shifted to the lower temperature with increasing the KOH
impregnation ratio, which exhibited similar results as Fig. 1(a). It is
suggested that the carbon was dehydrated by the activating agent KOH
following the structural transformation.
Fig. 1(b) shows that carbon-carbon unsaturated bonds (C– – C, C–
– – C)
are predominant in the bamboo biochar samples. Sharp peaks at 3000-
2500 cm− 1 show the presence of C–H stretching. Furthermore, C– –O
groups have a specific peak in the range of 2000–1650 cm− 1 and 1500-
850 cm− 1, corresponding to the weak signal of aromatic C–H bending.
The high carbon content of the bamboo charcoal (Table 1) results in a
large number of carbon-carbon bonds and a few other disorderly func­
tional groups generated during pyrolysis (e.g., N, O contained groups)
[34,35]. In addition, BBC-KOH-1:1 shows a specific peak at about 1100
cm− 1 corresponding to the stretching vibration of the C–O group in
phenol, ether, or ester [36], and the prominent C–O stretching vibration
mode is attributed to the high content of KOH introduced during biochar
activation [37].
3.2. Morphology and porous texture
Fig. 2 shows the morphological structure of bamboo biochar samples
by scanning electron microscopy. BBC-Origin has irregular pore distri­
bution on its surface, but the internal structure of biochar is non-porous.
SEM pictures of the KOH biochar samples are indicated in Fig. 2(b–d);
the introduction of low proportion KOH (1:0.5 and 1:0.2) has a signifi­
cant corrosion effect on the surface of the biochar. The porous structures
are observed with KOH and biochar in the equal proportion (BBC–KOH-
1:1). However, it is difficult to observe the difference in morphologies
for the three bamboo biochar samples from SEM results.
The textural characters of the bamboo biochar samples are shown in
Table 2 and Fig. 3. BBC-KOH-1:1 shows the highest surface area of
728.38 m2 g− 1 and micropore volume of 0.25 cm3 g− 1 compared to other
biochar samples. From the properties of other activated biochar samples
with less KOH added, inadequate KOH introduction might not create the
porous surface structure of biochars. However, the pore distribution
indicates that the KOH activation could reduce the pore diameter of
bamboo biochar and generate more micropores, which shows similar
results to the reported studies [28,38].
The promising CO2 adsorption is typically interrelated with surface
area and microporosity [39]. A large surface area could enhance the
contact between sorbent and CO2, and microporosity and small meso­
pores benefit gas molecule transportation and adsorption [40]. Notably,
the conditions of DAC essentially occur at room temperature and pres­
sure, under which the micropore volume plays a crucial role in the
adsorption efficiency [41]. Nevertheless, activation of pore generation
by KOH requires condition adjustment to produce high microporosity
biochar. The KOH activation process could produce pores at 500 ◦ C after

Fig. 1. (a) TGA-TPO and DTG-TPO profiles and (b) FTIR spectrum of the BBC samples.

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Fig. 2. SEM images (a) BBC-Origin; (b) BBC-KOH-1:1; (c) BBC-KOH-1:0.5; (d) BBC-KOH-1:0.2.

ratio of KOH results in higher CO2 uptake of the biochar samples.

Table 2
Moreover, the N2 adsorption isotherms are shown in Fig. 4(b); the pre­
The BET surface area, pore volume, and average pore diameter of the prepared
cursor biochar seems to perform better N2 sorption than BBC-KOH-1:0.2
sorbents.
before 0.7 bar. Furthermore, the N2 adsorption tendency is similar to
Sample BET Surface Total Pore Micropore Average Pore
CO2 adsorption under 1.0 bar, and the activated biochar samples adsorb
Area (m2 Volumea (cm3 Volumeb (cm3 Diameterc (Å)
g¡1) g¡1) g− 1)
more nitrogen than the untreated sample. Simultaneously, the
improvement of the activation process in this study is revealed, as shown
BBC- 351.52 0.14 0.12 30.38
in Table 3. A high KOH introduction ratio is the primary means to
Origin
BBC- 351.97 0.14 0.12 24.17 enhance the CO2 capture capacity; however, appropriate activators can
KOH- reduce the damage of KOH to equipment to achieve continuous activa­
1:0.2 tion of more biochar. Furthermore, a lower activation temperature could
BBC- 364.07 0.15 0.12 27.23
save energy compared to 850 ◦ C activations. Therefore, the comparable
KOH-
1:0.5 3.49 mmol g− 1 of CO2 uptake was obtained in this work, while relatively
BBC- 728.38 0.29 0.25 26.67 less KOH and lower temperature were applied for biochar activation.
KOH- Based on CO2/N2 isotherms, the adsorption selectivity of the adsor­
1:1 bent is obtained. Langmuir model (Equation (7)) is applied to illustrate
a
Single point total pore volume of pores. the CO2 and N2 adsorption isotherm, where qm (mmol g− 1) is the
b
t-Plot micropore volume. theoretical saturate adsorption ability; KL is the constant for the Lang­
c
BJH average pore diameter. muir equation; P is the pressure:
q m KL P
dehydration; however, when the temperature was too high (>900 ◦ C) q= (7)
1 + KL P
and the KOH concentration was over-introduced, the surface area and
pore volume of biochar are reduced [33]. Therefore, the BBC-KOH1:1 is qm(CO2 )KL (CO2 )
α(CO2 / N2 ) = (8)
regarded as the most feasible biochar for DAC in this work. qm(N2 )KL (N2 )

The Langmuir equation parameters of adsorption isotherms are

3.3. CO2/N2 adsorption isotherms
CO2 and N2 adsorption isotherms on BBC biochar samples were
investigated at 298K, and the results are shown in Fig. 4. BBC-KOH-1:1
demonstrates the best performance of CO2 capture than other biochar
sorbents under different CO2 partial pressure. The biochar samples
activated by KOH perform better than BBC-Origin; meanwhile, a higher
shown in Table 2. The results show that the Langmuir model is a reliable
method for predicting the isotherms because the coefficient of deter­
mination is close to 1.0 (R2 > 0.99). For CO2 adsorption, BBC-KOH-1:1
shows the highest CO2 uptake of 4.182 mmol g− 1 at 298 K and 1.0 bar,
and the qm value increases with the increase of KOH content during
biochar activation. Meanwhile, the results of N2 adsorption fitting
illustrate the same trend as CO2 adsorption. BBC-KOH-1:1 also shows a

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Fig. 3. (a) Nitrogen adsorption-desorption BET isotherm of bamboo biochars; (b) pore distribution of bamboo biochars.

Fig. 4. CO2 and N2 adsorption isotherms of BBC samples at 298K.

gases could be separated when α(CO2/N2) > 2.0 [46], and a higher value
Table 3 of α(CO2/N2) indicated a better efficiency of gas separation. Thus, the
Comparison of CO2 uptake at 298 K, 1 bar in KOH-activated porous biochar.
precursor shows a high equilibrium separation factor (12.969), indi­
Biochar Activation conditions CO2 uptake at 298K Reference cating that it is more selective to CO2. However, the KOH-activated
feedstock (mmol g− 1)
samples perform much higher selectivity (higher α(CO2/N2) value) to
Plam shell KOH (3:1), 850 ◦ C, 60 4.40 [42] CO2 than BBC-Origin. Furthermore, BBC-KOH-1:1 shows the best CO2
min selectivity adsorption efficiency.
Rice husk KOH (3:1), 780 ◦ C, 60 3.71 [43]
min
Vine shoots KOH (2:1), 600 ◦ C, 60 2.46 [44]
min
3.4. The breakthrough curve and efficiency of direct CO2 capture
Bamboo KOH (1:1), 700 ◦ C, 60 3.49 This work
min Fig. 5 displays the breakthrough curves of the four different biochar
samples. The BBC samples achieve equilibrium points at elapsed times of
47min, 63 min, 90 min, and 193 min, respectively. As the activation
maximum N2 adsorption uptake of 1.40 mmol g− 1.
degree increases, corresponding to a higher amount of KOH, the equi­
The equilibrium separation factor α(CO2/N2) (calculated by Equa­
librium of the adsorption process is delayed. In addition, as the increase
tion (8)) was used to evaluate the adsorption selectivity in the air [31,
in adsorption time indicates a high CO2 capture, BBC-KOH-1:1 exhibits
45]. α(CO2/N2) of the four biochar samples are presented in Table 4. It
the highest capacity of CO2 uptake. Moreover, the pseudo-first-order
shows that the equilibrium separation factor of BBC-Origin is 12.969.
and pseudo-second-order kinetic simulations (Fig. 4) were used to fit
Besides, the KOH-activated biochar samples have higher α(CO2/N2)
the DAC process. The parameters for ambient CO2 adsorption are shown
factors of 23.797, 22.563, and 25.672. It was reported that the target
in Table 5. In the kinetic equations, c0 is the ambient CO2 concentration;

Table 4
Parameters of Langmuir model fittings for isotherms of BBC samples.
N2 CO2 α(CO2/N2)
qm (mmol g− 1) KL (*101 MPa− 1) R2 qm (mmol g− 1) KL (*101 MPa− 1) R2

BBC-Origin 0.544 0.987 0.9972 2.522 2.761 0.9945 12.969

BBC-KOH-1:0.2 0.965 0.419 0.9989 3.063 3.143 0.9929 23.797
BBC-KOH-1:0.5 1.251 0.410 0.9994 3.537 3.072 0.9918 22.563
BBC-KOH-1:1 1.400 0.409 0.9991 4.182 3.515 0.9852 25.672

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C. Zhang et al. Journal of the Energy Institute 105 (2022) 399–405

3.5. Effect of moisture on ambient CO2 capacity

Fig. 6 indicates the BBC-KOH-1:1 adsorption ability under low/high

humidity conditions. The working life (sorbent ability) of BBC-KOH-1:1
fluctuates from 89.1% to 109.8%, with no significant change under 2.7%
RH. On the contrary, the performance of BBC-KOH-1:1 is significantly
reduced under 67.1% RH, and the lowest sorbent ability reaches 56.8%.
The studies report that moisture is unfavorable for CO2 capture using
non-modified biochar [31,38]. The moisture molecule could occupy the
CO2 adsorption site on the surface and in the micropores of biochar [49].
This negative effect can typically occur in biochar materials that depend
on micropores to capture CO2 physically [50]. Hence, adverse effects of
moisture in CO2 sources would greatly discourage large-scale DAC ap­
plications. The DAC stability cycle results confirm that biochar carbon
capture performance under high humidity is lower than that under dry
conditions, and the stability of biochar-based DAC is affected in the
presence of moisture after 50 cycles. Therefore, even though direct air
capture of CO2 is a promising application, air desiccation in advance or
hydrophobicity modification of adsorbent in this process is essential
[51].
Fig. 5. Ambient CO2 adsorption breakthrough curve and pseudo-first-order
(——) and pseudo-second-order (▪▪▪▪) simulation of BBC samples at room
4. Conclusion
temperature.

Bamboo biochar is used as a promising solid adsorbent for direct air

Table 5 capture of CO2. The potassium hydroxide activated bamboo biochar
Parameters of kinetic equations for BBCs direct air capture. greatly optimizes biochar morphology and textural and enhances the
surface area, thus increasing CO2 adsorption capacity. BBC-KOH-1:1
Sample Pseudo-first-order Pseudo-second-order
shows the highest CO2 adsorption uptake of 51.74 μmol g− 1 (ambient
2
c1 K1 R c2 K2 R2 conditions) and 3.49 mmol g− 1 (298K, 1 bar). Moreover, the kinetic
BBC-Origin 1.011 0.062 0.989 1.105 0.087 0.927 modeling of breakthrough curves suggests that the adsorption of CO2
BBC-KOH-1:0.2 1.070 0.033 0.973 1.309 0.0287 0.947 using BBC-KOH-1:1 follows the pseudo-first-order, and the precursor
BBC-KOH-1:0.5 1.147 0.023 0.989 1.692 0.011 0.987
(BBC-Origin) follows the pseudo-second-order adsorption. Meanwhile,
BBC-KOH-1:1 1.036 0.015 0.993 1.402 0.009 0.995
BBC-KOH-1:1 shows a stable sorbent ability under the dry condition,
whilst high relative humidity harms DAC performance, as the sorption
ct is the CO2 concentration detected by the gas analyzer; K1 (min− 1) and ability is significantly reduced to 63.88% after 50 cycles.
K2 (min− 1) are the constants of Pseudo-first/second-order equations; c1
and c2 are the theoretical efficiencies ratio (ct/co) when adsorption CRediT authorship contribution statement
reaches equilibrium for the Pseudo-first-order and Pseudo-second-order,
respectively. Pseudo-first-order model shows a higher CO2 adsorption Chen Zhang: Data curation, Writing-original draft. Shuzhuang Sun:
fitting than the pseudo-second-order model with high R2 (0.973–0.993). Validation, Visualization. Su He: Visualization. Chunfei Wu: Con­
These results are consistent with the kinetics of the seven biochar ceptualisation, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – review & editing.
characterized by Cao [20] and previous research [47,48], which prove
that the pseudo-first-order model is suitable for physical adsorption
Declaration of competing interest
between sorbents and gases.

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial

Fig. 6. BBC-KOH-1:1 working life exploration at low/high relative humidity conditions.

404
C. Zhang et al.
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgment
This project was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020
research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie
grant agreement No. 823745.
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