Activation of spring jasmine wood impregnated with homologous bio-oil: Influence of organics in bio-oil on pore development

Bio-oil contains abundant aliphatic organics, which can be used to impregnate a biomass feedstock for increasing aliphatic content, as aliphatics are important for pore development in activation. Herein, impregnation of homologous bio-oil to spring jasmine wood (SJW) and further activation of the impregnated sample (SJW-oil) with ZnCl 2 or K 2 C 2 O 4 were conducted, aiming to explore another alternative outlet for application of bio-oil. The results showed that the impregnated bio-oil increased yield of activated carbon (AC) by 29.9 % (on SJW basis) in activation with ZnCl 2 , due to promoted condensation of organics from the impregnated bio-oil. Nevertheless, the specific surface area was reduced from 2098.5 m 2 g −1 in activation of SJW only to 1602.1 m 2 g −1 from SJW-oil, as the impregnated bio-oil suppressed infiltration of ZnCl 2 to internal structures of SJW. However, more mesopores were generated in AC-Oil-ZnCl 2 (85.9 %) than in AC-ZnCl 2 (92.5 %), originating from activation of organics in impregnated bio-oil. K 2 C 2 O 4 could easily crack organics in the impregnated bio-oil and in SJW, increasing specific surface area from 1152.2 m 2 g −1 in AC-K 2 C 2 O 4 to 1283.4 m 2 g −1 in AC-Oil-K 2 C 2 O 4 . In-situ IR characterization showed formation of additional aliphatic structures from the impregnated bio-oil and also intensified cracking reactions, favoring pore developing but diminishing AC production. The impregnated bio-oil also rendered the AC with superior performance for phenol adsorption but lowered environmental impact of the activation process.