PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Lorenzo Albanese
AU  - Silvia Baronti
AU  - Francesca Liguori
AU  - Francesco Meneguzzo
AU  - Pierluigi Barbaro
AU  - Francesco Primo Vaccari
TI  - Hydrodynamic cavitation as an energy efficient process to increase biochar surface area and porosity: a case study
AID  - 10.1101/280685
DP  - 2018 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 280685
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/03/14/280685.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/03/14/280685.full
AB  - The effectivity of biochar as soil amendment is depending by its physical and chemical characteristics that are related to the type and the features of the thermal production process, such as peak temperature, heating rate, holding time, as well as from the used feedstocks. The textural characteristics of biochar in term of surface area, pore size and pore volume distribution, important for the physicochemical properties of the material, are critically dependent on the production process and the feedstock type. In this study, based on a single biochar type and a single experiment, for the first time controlled hydrodynamic cavitation was proven as a fast and effective way to enhance the biochar surface area by as much as 120%, while preserving or improving the respective chemical composition, showing far higher efficiency than the conventional increase of the peak pyrolysis temperature.ASalmond shellBETBrunauer–Emmett–Teller methodBJHBarret, Joyner, and Halenda methodHChydrodynamic cavitationOTPolive-tree pruningOSolive stonePWpine woodTPslow thermal pyrolysisASalmond shellBETBrunauer–Emmett–Teller methodBJHBarret, Joyner, and Halenda methodHChydrodynamic cavitationOTPolive-tree pruningOSolive stonePWpine woodTPslow thermal pyrolysis