Boreskov Institute of Catalysis SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia

CATALYTIC ACTION OF MOLTEN ALKALI IN CONVERSIONOF BIOMASS TO POROUS CARBONSChesnokov N.V. 1,2 , Mikova N.M. 1 , Ivanov I.P. 1 , Kuznetsov B.N. 1,2PP-121 Institute of Chemistry and Chemical Technology SB RAS,K. Marx str., 42, Krasnoyarsk, 660049, fax: +7(391)2439342, e-mail: inm@icct.ru2 Siberian Federal University, Svobodny pr., 79, Krasnoyarsk, 660041As known, the molten salts are in catalytic processes of coal and biomassgasification and liquefaction. Catalytic action of molten KOH and NaOH in thermalconversions of wood, lignin and cellulose was studied in this work.It was shown that the molten hydroxides of alkaline metals promote the significantdevelopment of solid raw material porous structure. The specific surface area, totalvolume and size of the pores depend on the nature of raw material and alkalihydroxide, ratio raw material/alkali hydroxide and on the temperature of activationtreatment. The optimal conditions of alkaline activation of various raw materials wereselected which allow to provide the maximal development of nanoporous structure ofproduced active carbons.When wood biomass is used as a raw material, the carbonization with KOHincreases by 5-10 times the specific surface area of produced active carbons in thecomparison with traditional carbonization process. It was found that the wood natureinfluences on the texture characteristics of active carbons produced by alkalinethermal treatment. The maximal surface area of active carbons from birch-woodreaches 2050 m 2 /g, when the same for aspen-wood active carbons is no more than1350 m 2 /g.The specific surface area of nanoporous carbons obtained by carbonization ofcellulose and wheat-straw lignin in the presence of molten KOH goes through amaximum with the increase of KOH/raw material ratio. The maximal surface area ofcarbons from cellulose reaches to 1700 m 2 /g and for wheat-straw lignin –to 2040 m 2 /g.Sorption properties of active carbons prepared by alkaline activation of differenttypes of natural raw material were studied. They are active in sorption of molecularhydrogen and different hydrocarbons (trichlormethane, benzene, alcohols etc.). Asidefrom the nature of initial raw material the sorption capacity for H 2 increases with thegrowth of micropores volume of prepared active carbons.101