Carbonaceous Materials from Rice Husk: Production and Application in Industry and Agriculture

Abstract

A solid carbonaceous material and a liquid product were produced by the rice husk pyrolysis. Chemical analysis and GC-MS were used to investigate the compositions of the prepared materials, respectively. X-ray, SEM, TEM, BET were applied to study the structure and textural properties of the carbonaceous material. It was determined that the solid product is a composite consisting of carbon (52%) and silicon dioxide (31%) nanoparticles. Therefore, it was named a silicon-carbon. The liquid product is a water solution containing various organic compounds (carboxylic acids, phenols, ketones, alcohols and ethers, cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons, heterocyclic compounds). The possibility to apply the solid carbonaceous material as a reducing agent and a sorbent and the liquid organic product as a flotation reagent was determined in the electro thermal smelting process, sorption and flotation processes. Veterinary and toxicology studies were performed to estimate toxicity of solid carbonaceous material and possibility to apply it as a feed additive. It was shown, that due to its chemical composition the silicon-carbon is a complex raw material for metallurgical silicon, aluminum-free and titanium-free ferrosilicium, and silicon carbide production. The produced sorbent had high rare and heavy metals adsorption capacity. The solid carbonaceous material, that was found to be non-toxic, was an effective feed additive and improved quality of laying hens and broiler chickens. The liquid product had properties of a blowing agent in the flotation of lead-zinc ores. It was concluded that both rice husk derived solid and liquid carbonaceous materials are economically effective alternative materials for various technological processes and agriculture.