CO₂ Capture over Chitosan Biochars: Tailoring the Properties for Highly Efficient Adsorbents

Chitosan biochars were prepared via two different pathways to obtain N-functionalized adsorbents. The direct calcination of chitosan in the presence of K2CO3 afforded CHIT-CO3-XXX materials (XXX refers to the temperature of calcination), whereas the initial hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of chitosan, followed by calcination in the presence of K2CO3, afforded HTC48-CO3-XXX materials. The biochars obtained by direct carbonization of chitosan presented a lower BET area and nitrogen content than the carbons obtained from HTC chitosan, considering the same temperature of calcination. Among the biochars, CHIT-CO3-700 presented the highest CO2 uptake (5.3 mmol·g–1), whereas HTC48-CO3-600, prepared upon calcination of HTC chitosan, presented 4.7 mmol·g–1 of CO2 uptake, at 25 °C and 1 bar. These materials were characterized by different techniques and tested for the adsorption of CO2 at different temperatures. The adsorption profiles were better fitted by the Freundlich isotherm and the second-order kinetic model. The selectivity for CO2/N2 gas mixtures, taken from the Henry constant, was 1.7 and 10 for CHIT-CO3-700 and HTC48-CO3-600, respectively. In situ FTIR drift studies also indicated that the HTC48-CO3-600 biochar can retain some adsorbed CO2 at 150 °C. These results may be explained by the higher total basicity of the HTC48-CO3-600 biochar, indicating that the initial hydrothermal carbonization of chitosan produces a biochar with improved properties for selective CO2 capture.