Can lignocellulose derived carbon/nanocarbon materials ever compete with synthetically produced carbons?

Research has been promising but skepticism remains due to the variable nature of lignocellulosic materials raising concerns about the reproducibility of carbon. Are plant based materials inherently unique in their chemical makeup that makes process control difficult? Many seem to believe so.

In lignocellulosic derived carbons what matters is the fraction of lignin,hemicellulose and cellulose in the mix. Different fractions will alter the composition of derived carbon / nanosheets slightly.

For example if a 130 day old peapod has higher lignin content it will have different characteristics than a 100 day old peapod.

So yes the results will be variable but they are not that hard to predict.

Example: Carbons derived from mature wheat straw (after crop is harvested) would have similar properties because wheat stops growing after a certain period. No more lignin or cellulose is deposited in the cell walls.

Same for jute ,coconut husk,flax or sugarcane bagasse — in fact for most grasses

LC biomass generally carbonises to amorphous carbons, unless special care is taken towards graphitisation. On a research level there has been some development in making carbon nanofibers from lignin

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9SfnSEYmmms

Biomass is the most abundant carbon source and although it's not as uniform as synthetic sources it offers an opportunity to scale up production of carbon materials. Otherwise the industry will be stuck with non renewable depleting resources that feeds into several other industries like plastics

So it's important to find a way to work with limitations trading purity for scale.

Some techniques offer promise in this direction. Like molten salt synthesis. It has been quite successful in making micro sized carbon fibers from LC biomass. Hopefully they can replace PAN /Pitch based fibers one day.

It's important to address some other routes of synthesizing nanocarbons through biomass like CVD. CVD produces a forest of fiber dust while electrospinning produces nano assembled fibers on a macro scale. So they are not directly comparable. Both techniques are used for different industrial processes.

While important industrially CVD can't produce graphene or any other nanocarbon on macro scale. The powder produced needs to be assembled using some technique.

Electrospinning offers a way especially when it comes to making fibers (different from sheets or graphene — both multilayered and few layered)

Electrospinning is also used to make carbon nanotubes fibers

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsomega.2c01807

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/26902908_Electrospinning_of_Cellulose_and_Carbon_Nanotube-Cellulose_Fibers_for_Smart_Applications

Here in this video they use wet spinning for making cnt fibers

https://youtu.be/4XDJC64tDR0?si=Pu5D33pcnCIiyzH5

For some professionals biomass derived carbons remain a pipedream.

I don't believe it to be so. Rayon has extensively been used to make carbon fibers in the past.

Researchers have demonstrated the feasibility of biomass as a nano carbon source however such research is often dismissed.

I think it's a bit harsh to judge the output of research based on whether the industry adopts it or not. They have several valid reasons for the industry to not adopt a biomass source including the fact that production of carbon materials from synthetic sources is well developed and has tooling support for it.

Also important to note that the petroleum industry is known to actively sabotage bio industries. Look at the history of hemp for example

'The passing of the Act to destroy the U.S. hemp industry has been reputed to involve businessmen Andrew Mellon, Randolph Hearst and the Du Pont family.[164][165][166]'

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemp

Do biomaterials have a promising future in nanoengineering?How about we take a look at nano cellulose?

They are being produced on scales of many tonnes by several different organizations right now. Production of nano carbon from nano cellulose is just one step away.

But "acrylonitrile can be produced from renewable bio sources like glutamic acid, propionic acid etc.. the only obstacle is cost."

Yes it may be true. Organic chemistry is rich and very flexible but why would anyone want to take the circuitous route of synthesizing acrylonitrile first from bio based sources when bio sources can be used to synthesize carbon fibers directly? Especially when new techniques like molten salt synthesis are being developed.

Nanomaterials so far have not been able to justify the high costs associated with their production. Furthermore for most everyday applications usual materials are good enough. So it's not exactly clear where they can be used — outside of electronics that is. Bio based carbons offer a way to produce carbon materials in a manner that is sustainable and scalable. It is important to build skill and knowledge around this.

Possible role of hydrogen in geometry-driven sp3 bond formation during MPCVD diamond growth

Unlocking the Potential of Carbon for Long-Distance Electrical Transmission

Akshat Jiwan Sharma

Strategy Consultant--Innovation/ Materials science/International relations/Telecommunications/Digital Transformation/Partnerships

Mobile/whatsapp:+919654119771

email:getellobed@gmail.com

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