A review on research progress and prospects of agricultural waste-based activated carbon: preparation, application, and source of raw materials

Agricultural waste is an economically and environmentally beneficial precursor material for the development of activated carbon (AC) due to its low price, wide sources, and large production scale. This makes it a crucial field for agricultural waste treatment and AC development. This paper reviews the research progress of agricultural waste-based activated carbon (AWAC), including the sources and characteristics of agricultural waste, and the effects of raw material characteristics and activation conditions on the performance of AWAC. It analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of various preparation methods of AWAC. Additionally, it explains the research status of AWAC in wastewater treatment, gas adsorption, catalyst carrier, and energy carrier. Finally, this paper summarizes the advantages and limitations of using agricultural wastes as raw materials for AC, and provides a prospect for raw material development, process optimization, and application expansion, taking into account the shortcomings of current research.