Recent advancement in biomass-derived activated carbon for waste water treatment, energy storage, and gas purification: a review

Energy, water, and healthy air are the basic needs to survive, and all these resources are intricately connected. Modern lifestyle activities and growing energy demands cause more consumption of fossil fuels and contamination of water and air. The inappropriate discharge of a substantial biomass waste byproduct worsened these problems, mainly in developing nations. The carbonization process can resolve all these problems by converting biomass waste into valuable advanced materials. One of the innovative materials is porous activated carbons derived from various biomass and widely utilized as adsorbents of many pollutants and robust energy storage in supercapacitors with a reported specific capacitance of up to 720 F g(-1). The highest adsorption capacity of similar to 2600 mg g(-1) for contaminants was attained using biomass-derived activated carbon with > 99% removal efficiency and a high surface area of similar to 3700 m(2) g(-1). In this, the review not only summarizes the most advanced progress in biomass-derived activated carbon and its role in waste water treatment, energy storage, and air purification but also focuses on the essential factors that affect efficiency towards these specific applications for future demands.