Grant: Alliance Grants

Emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels (e.g., coal, petroleum, and gas) is one of the major causes of climate change. After the Paris agreement in 2016, there has been a global effort to replace conventional sources of energy with renewable resources (e.g., wind and solar) and carbon-negative energy production techniques. Hydrogen is a promising carbon-free source of energy. Additionally, the process for hydrogen production, which is called methane pyrolysis, is a carbon-negative method; that is, the carbon is sequestered from the system during the methane pyrolysis process. The main purpose of methane pyrolysis is to produce hydrogen, and the carbon generated is a byproduct of the process. Without a strategy in place to utilize the generated carbon byproduct, it could end up being a waste which not only raises environmental concerns, but can also impose additional costs on the overall hydrogen production process. The primary objective of this project is to investigate the possibility of modifying the produced carbon byproduct so it can be used in the agriculture industry and in water treatment processes. For agricultural use, the surface of the carbon byproduct will be treated chemically using different techniques to enhance its surface reactivity, a necessary step in its application in soil amendment. The resulting modified material could provide an alternative option for similar carbon-based products such as biochar which are proven to improve the quality of soil. For water treatment applications, the carbon byproduct will be further processed to remove contaminants such as lead from water. In this case, the modified carbon byproduct could provide a low-cost replacement option for similar carbon-based products such as activated carbons which are commonly used in water treatment processes.