Vitrimeric materials have emerged as fascinating and sustainable materials owing to their malleability, reprocessability, and recyclability. Sustainable vitrimeric materials can be prepared by reinforcing polymeric matrix with bioderived fillers. In the current work, a sustainable vitrimer is prepared by incorporating biomass-derived activated carbon (AC) filler into the epoxy matrix to achieve enhanced thermal and mechanical properties. Thus, prepared biocomposite vitrimers demonstrate a lower-temperature self-healing (70°C for 5 min) via disulfide exchanges, compared to the pristine epoxy vitrimers (80°C for 5 min). Significantly, the self-healing performances have been studied extensively with the flexural studies; and changes in material healing efficiency have been demonstrated based on the observed changes in modulus.

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Anaerobic digestion (AD), one of the most promising routes for producing clean energy from biodegradable wastes, encounters difficulties at operational and mechanistic levels impacting its overall efficiency. Along with other solutions to overcome this problem, biochar has arrived as a worthwhile additive to enhance the performance of the process. This review aims to discuss various perspectives of biochar addition to anaerobic digester. It summarizes the mechanism of biochar action during AD. Direct inter-species electron transfer offers a synergistic mechanism specifying different aspects of biogas production. Importance of characteristics of biochar (ion-exchange capacity, surface properties, electrical conductivity, and hydrophobicity) has been explained in enhancing AD performance. Studies indicate that surface area >150 m2/g and particle size <1 cm can be referred as benchmark along with its supporting properties apt for AD. Researchers have recommended varying amounts of biochar (up to 15 g/L) for optimizing biogas production. Applicability of biochar for upgrading the biogas with respect to significant impurities (CO2, H2S, and NH3) has been discussed in detail. Along with the beneficial effects of biochar, its limitations in AD have also been identified, which need to be addressed wisely in order to optimize the process and make an unbiassed shift towards validating the candidature of biochar in AD. Whole discussion indicates that consciously planned scheme utilizing biochar may be helpful in enhancing the effectiveness of AD for biogas generation, which may prove to be an impactful technology in the world of renewable energy.

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