No abstract

Photocatalysis has been recognized as a feasible method in water and wastewater treatment. Compared to other methods such as adsorption and chemical oxidation, the use of photocatalyst in the advanced oxidation processes gives benefits such as a longer lifetime of the catalyst and less consumable chemicals. Currently, explorations into low-cost, effective photocatalysts for organic contaminated water are being developed. Within this scheme, an easily separated photocatalyst with other functionality, such as high adsorption, is important. In this research, preparation of a magnetic nanocomposite photocatalyst based on agricultural waste, palm leaves biochar impregnated nickel nanoparticles (Ni/BC), was investigated. The nanocomposite was prepared by direct pyrolysis of palm leaves impregnated with nickel (II) chloride precursor. Furthermore, the physicochemical characterization of the material was performed by using an X-ray diffractometer (XRD), scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (SEM-EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), gas sorption analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The photocatalytic activity of Ni/BC was evaluated for methyl violet (MV) photocatalytic oxidation. The results from XRD, XPS and TEM analyses identified single nickel nanoparticles dispersed on the biochar structure ranging from 30–50 nm in size. The dispersed nickel nanoparticles increased the BET specific surface area of biochar from 3.92 m2/g to 74.12 m2/g oxidation. High photocatalytic activity of the Ni/BC was exhibited by complete MV removal in 30 min for the concentration ranging from 10–80 mg/L. In addition, the Ni/BC showed stability in the pH range of 4–10 and reusability without any activity change until fifth usage. The separable photocatalyst is related to magnetism of about 13.7 emu/g. The results highlighted the role of biochar as effective support for Ni as photoactive material.

The objective of this research was to prepare low-cost catalyst for green diesel conversion from vegetable oil. The catalyst of nickel-dispersed biochar (Ni/BC) was prepared by direct pyrolysis of nickel precursor with palm leaves waste under N2 stream at 500 °C. The obtained catalyst was examined by using x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive x-ray, transmission electron microscopy, gas sorption analysis, FTIR and surface acidity examination. The catalytic activity testing was performed on rice bran oil hydrodeoxygenation at varied temperature and time of reaction. Based on analyses, the results showed the successful preparation of Ni/BC with the characteristic of single nickel nanoparticles decorated on surface. The increasing specific surface area of material was conclusively remarked the surface area enhancement by nickel dispersion along with the increased surface acidity, suggesting that the material can be applied for acid catalysis applications. The Ni/BC exhibited excellent catalytic conversion of rice bran oil with the high selectivity toward diesel fraction with 85.3% yield and 92.6% selectivity. Copyright © 2023 by Authors, Published by BCREC Group. This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0).

No abstract