Development of carbon synthesis methods from biowaste

The main aim of this project is to develop carbon material synthesis routes from biowaste for modern energy storage devices (batteries, supercapacitors) and applications (hydrogen storage). Biowaste is an essential part of household waste that can be used to produce high-value carbon materials. Recycling of biowaste (the European Union generates approximately 2.2 billion tons of waste yearly) into valued products also contributes to reduced greenhouse gas emissions as the decomposition of biowaste causes emission of methane and other greenhouse gases causing climate change. Carbon materials with very different structures (amorphous, graphitic) and porosity (specific surface area, pore volume, pore size) are needed for state-of-the-art energy-related applications. Therefore, different biowaste processing (acid/alkaline washing) and synthesis conditions (temperature, activation) are applied to produce carbon materials with diverse properties. Mainly, X-ray diffraction analysis, Raman spectroscopy, and nitrogen sorption analysis methods will be used to study carbon materials' structural and porous properties to determine the effect of biowaste processing and synthesis conditions on the final carbon materials properties needed for different applications (energy and gas storage). Based on these results, tuning the synthesis conditions can be applied to obtain carbon materials with the desired properties. The market for carbon materials used in modern energy applications is estimated to be worth approximately US$2.5 billion and will grow further in the coming decades due to global climate goals. Thus, turning collected biowaste into valued carbon materials contributes to both the development of state-of-the-art energy-related systems and climate goals.