C H A P T E R

34
Spent Coffee-Based Activated Carbons:
Production, Properties, and Environmental
Applications
Teresa J. Bandosz, Karifala Kante
Department of Chemistry, The City College of New York, New York, NY, USA

34.1 INTRODUCTION agents promoting dehydration, condensation of aro-

matic rings, and development of porosity. The most
Contemporary society faces ongoing problems of often-used chemical activation agents are phosphoric
keeping the environment clean, sustainable, and safe acid, potassium hydroxide, and zinc chloride.
for inhabitants. Nowadays, many pollutants and con- Typical activated carbons have surface areas of
taminants have to be removed either from the gas or approximately 1000 m2/g and pore volume over
liquid phase.1 Examples include the treatment of drink- 1 cm3/g.2,3 They are considered to be microporous adsor-
ing water, desulfurization of stock gases, removal of bents, which means that the majority of their pore vol-
mercury from power plant exhausts, desulfurization of ume is in the range of micropores—pores smaller than
liquid fuels, CO2 sequestration, or purification of vari- 2 nm in diameter. The needs of sophisticated contem-
ous food and pharmaceutical products. Another need porary separation processes led to the development of
for good separation media is in the recovery of useful carbon with much higher surface area, over 2000 m2/g,
products. Here, examples include the separation of air and volume of pores reaching 3 cm3/g. They are usually
components, methane from digester gas, or ethane from synthesized using sol–gel processes or templating meth-
ethylene. ods, but addressing these materials is beyond the scope
The “classic” materials used often as separation media of this chapter.
are charcoals and activated carbons.2,3 There is even The superior adsorption properties of activated car-
some proof of charcoal usage in ancient China. Its mod- bons are linked to their high surface areas and pore vol-
ern application as an adsorbent started at the beginning umes.5 Due to the strong dispersive forces in their pore
of the twentieth century when an activation method was system, carbons can accumulate various molecules on
patented and used in Ratibor (now Raciborz, Poland; their surface. Unfortunately, often the physical adsorp-
SGL Carbon plant).4 Today, there are various technolo- tion process on activated carbons is not specific enough
gies used to produce activated carbons.2,3 The adsorbents for certain separation applications, especially when there
can be manufactured by activation of chars obtained by is a need to remove polar compounds. In such cases,
high-temperature pyrolysis of precursors with a high the surface of carbon has to be modified to increase the
content of carbon element, including coal, wood, pitch, strength of specific interactions.6 This is usually done by
and various waste biomasses such as coconut shells, rice impregnation with various chemicals of choice (e.g., salts,
husks, stone pits, and many others. Activation involves bases, acids) or by introduction of heteroatoms to the car-
treatment of char at temperatures over 800 °C in CO2 or bon matrix. The most often introduced heteroatoms are
steam. It leads the development of porosity as a result oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus, and boron. They
of burn-off. Another group of methods leading to the exist on the surface of carbons in the form of organic
production of activated carbon is called chemical acti- functional groups, which change the polarity, acid-base,
vation. Here, the precursors are mixed with chemical and electronic properties of the carbon matrix and thus

Coffee in Health and Disease Prevention 311

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-409517-5.00034-6 © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
312 34.  SPENT COFFEE-BASED ACTIVATED CARBONS

improve the adsorption efficiency toward target species.

Besides applications in separation processes, there is also
a need for specialty carbons. They are used as electrodes
for supercapacitors to store electrical energy,7 as anodes
for lithium batteries,8 and as catalysts or catalyst sup-
ports in various industrial processes.6
In this review, the production, properties, and appli-
cations of activated carbons obtained from coffee waste
are addressed. This particular biomass is a byproduct of
coffee consumption. It is readily available in large quan-
tities and in a form that is easy to use in the production
of carbon. Its important asset is the presence of nitrogen FIGURE 34.1  Schematic presentation for the preparation of acti-
compounds (caffeine, amino acids), which can enrich the vated carbon from coffee residue. Reprinted with permission from Ref. 13.
surface properties of the final products by increasing the Copyright Elsevier, 2010.
surface basicity and polarity,6 as well as inducing posi-
tive charge on the carbon atoms.9,10
the polyvinylidene chloride– and polyvinyl chloride–
derived carbons also exhibited surface properties similar
34.2  PREPARATION OF COFFEE-BASED to those of the spent coffee-derived carbons.
ACTIVATED CARBONS AND THEIR Besides activation with potassium hydroxide, zinc
SURFACE FEATURES chloride was also used as a chemical activation agent to
prepare coffee-derived carbons.13–17 The carbon prepara-
Physical activation is the most common method of tion setup used by Khenniche and Aissani13 is presented in
activated carbon production.2,3 Valante Nabais and Figure 34.1. Their ratios of the precursor to the activation
coworkers used this approach to prepare activated car- agent were 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, and 1. The surface area of the
bon from coffee endocarp.11 The endocarp is a lignocel- resulting carbon increased with an increase in the amount
lulosic residue that is discarded after separation of coffee of an activation agent and reached 810 m2/g for 1:1 ratio
beans from coffee fruit. Because it is directly related to (Table 34.1). The carbons were predominantly micropo-
the coffee beans, we address it as a source of carbon in rous adsorbents; however, an increase in the coffee/ZnCl2
this review. The precursor was carbonized at 600 °C for ratio resulted in the development of mesoporosity. An
30, 60, or 120 min and then activation (with steam or CO2) increase in that ratio also led to a decrease in the amount
was carried out at 700 °C. The surface area of the final of basic groups on the surface, as determined from the
CO2-activated carbon ranged from 400 to 1300 m2/g, and Boehm titration method,18 with the acidic groups remain-
that activated by steam reached 630 m2/g. The carbon ing on more or less constant level of about 3.5 mmol/g.
had a basic pH (over 10) and ash content up to 23%, with Zinc chloride was also used as the activation agent by
Na, K, Mg, and Si as its major components. The surface Rufford and co-workers.14,15 In their approach, the ratios of
chemistry for all samples was similar regardless of the ZnCl2 to spent coffee were 1, 3.5, and 5. The materials were
activation method. The typical oxygen groups that are carbonized at 900 °C for 1 h and then washed with HCl to
characteristic for activated carbons (carboxyl, carbonyls, remove a residue of the activation agent. Even though the
phenolic, pyrones)6 were identified on the surface. surface areas and volumes of micropores did not show
Chemical activation was used by Evans and coworkers any dependence on the activation conditions (∼1000 m2/g
to prepare activated carbon from used coffee grounds.12 for all samples), the volume of mesopores increased from
First, the precursor was carbonized at 750 °C in an inert 0.14 cm3/g for ZnCl2:coffee ratio of 1 to 0.95 cm2/g for
atmosphere, and then it was chemically activated with ratio 5 (Table 34.1). That increase was attributed to the
KOH. The ratio of char to solid KOH was 1:4. The acti- pore-­ widening effect. The surface chemistry of the car-
vation temperatures ranged from 400 to 950 °C, with hold bon obtained with 1:1 activation ratio was investigated.15
time between 1 and 4 h. After activation, the samples were X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis showed
washed with methanol to remove an excess of the activa- that the carbon contained 6.8 at% oxygen and 1.5 at%
tion agent. Chemical activation of coffee ground-derived nitrogen. Although the oxygen was in phenols/ether
char at 800 °C resulted in a carbon with the surface area (58.8%), ­chemisorbed O2 (21.5%), and carbonyl-quinone
reaching 2030 m2/g, with approximately 65% yield of the (19.7%) configurations, the majority of nitrogen was in
final products. It was concluded that the porous properties ­pyridinic form (35.9%). Other species, such as ­quaternary
of the coffee-derived carbons were similar to those of acti- nitrogen, pyrrolic/pyridone, and pyridine-N-oxide,
vated carbons obtained from other cellulose-containing consisted of 30.6%, 20.5%, and 13% of the total nitrogen
precursors, such as macadamia nut shells. Interestingly, detected on the samples, respectively.

I.  INTRODUCTORY AND GENERAL TEXT

 34.2  Preparation of Coffee-Based Activated Carbons and Their Surface Features 313
TABLE 34.1  Summary of Activation Methods and Textural Properties of Spent Coffee-Derived Carbons
Activation Method:
Reference Carbon Activation Ratio SBET (m2/g) Vmic (cm3/g) Vt (cm3/g)

Ref. 12 Coffee ground carbon KOH: 4.0 2030 NA NA

Ref. 13 AC25% ZnCl2: 0.25 520 0.267 0.279

AC50% ZnCl2: 0.50 617 0.301 0.326
AC75% ZnCl2: 0.75 680 0.305 0.374
AC100% ZnCl2: 1 810 0.339 0.484

Ref. 14 CGC-1.0 ZnCl2: 1 1019 0.34 0.48

CGC-3.5 ZnCl2: 3.5 940 0.35 0.93
CGC-5.0 ZnCl2: 5.0 1021 0.35 1.30

Ref. 16 COFAC-0.5 ZnCl2: 0.5 645 0.326 0.328

COFAC-1 ZnCl2: 1.0 905 0.399 0.492
COFAC-2 ZnCl2: 2.0 1121 0.445 0.954
COFAC-0.5A Acid washed 710 0.354 0.359
COFAC-1A Acid washed 850 0.371 0.486
COFAC-2A Acid washed 933 0.371 0.681

Ref. 17 ACP ZnCl2+H3PO4 640 NA 0.95

Ref. 18 CN2 Nitrogen 16 0.000 0.018

CN2-CO2 Nitrogen/CO2 11 0.000 0.015
CN2-ST Nitrogen/steam 469 0.170 0.362
CZn-N2 ZnCl2/nitrogen 470 0.090 0.454
CZn-N2-CO2 ZnCl2/Nitrogen/CO2 914 0.084 1.010
CZn-N2-ST ZnCl2/nitrogen/steam 305 0.073 0.275

SBET, specific surface area; Vmic, volume of micropores; Vt, total pore volume; NA, not available.

In the work by Kante and co-workers, the ratios of on the surface. Their chemistry depends on the carbon-
spent coffee to ZnCl2 were 0.5, 1, and 2.16 The mixtures ization temperature; after treatment at 800 °C, pyridinic
were homogenized and carbonized at 800 °C with a 1-h nitrogen, pyridine-N-oxides, and quaternary nitrogen
hold time. A marked increase in the surface area and should exist on the surface.19 These species are known to
porosity was found. While the carbon with the ZnCl2/ contribute to carbon basicity,6,20 decrease the band gap,21
spent coffee ratio 0.5 had a surface area 645 m2/g and the and also affect the electronic properties of the surface by
total pore volume 0.328 cm3/g, the sample obtained with changing the charge on the neighboring carbon atoms.10
highest activation ratio (2) had a surface of 1121 m2/g A more complex chemical activation of spent coffee
and pore volume of 0.954 cm3/g (Table 34.1). Interest- was proposed by Namane and co-workers.17 In their
ingly, acid washing had a mixed effect on porosity. Thus, approach, the mixture of ZnCl2 and H3PO4 (equal molar
the surface area and pore volume of the former sample concentration of 1 mol/L) was used as an activation agent.
slightly increased (about 10%); for the latter, a 17% and The spent coffee was saturated with that solution, dried,
30% decrease in the surface area and pore volume was and then carbonized at 600 °C for 45 min. The resulting
found. These changes were attributed to the removal of carbon was washed with diluted HCl to remove the solu-
residual zinc salt. Apparently, its deposition in the pore ble salt and the excess of the dehydrating agent. The final
system of the sample with high activation ratio (∼2 wt% product had a surface area of 640 m2/g and pore volume
zinc) contributed to the formation of small pores. The of 0.95 cm3/g (Table 34.1). The surface pH was 6.33.
surface pH values of the unwashed samples were Boonamanuayvitaya and coworkers subjected cof-
between 6 and 7. Acid washing resulted in an increase in fee residue to a range of activation methods, including
the acidity and the pH decrease was 1 to 2 units. The car- chemical activation with ZnCl2, and CO2 and steam acti-
bon had a significant content of oxygen (up to 24 wt%, vation of residue derived chars.22 In the case of the chemi-
which increased with an increase in the activation ratio) cal activation, the ZnCl2-to-precursor ratio was 3:1. In all
and 2–3 wt% nitrogen. The content of the latter decreased procedures, the final temperature was 600 °C with a 4-h
with an increase in the activation ratio. The presence of holding time. Besides the physical activation of chars, the
nitrogen was considered to be an important asset of the chemically activated carbons were further subjected to
coffee-derived carbon. This nitrogen has its origin in caf- a high temperature activation with CO2 and steam. The
feine. Using a nitrogen-rich precursor is expected to lead most porous carbon was chemically activated with ZnCl2
to the uniform distribution of nitrogen functionalities and then reactivated with CO2. Its surface area reached

I.  INTRODUCTORY AND GENERAL TEXT

314 34.  SPENT COFFEE-BASED ACTIVATED CARBONS

900 m2/g with a total pore volume of 1 cm3/g (Table 34.1). TABLE 34.2 H2S Breakthrough Capacities, Surface pH Values
Other activation methods led to materials with surface and Ash Contents
areas ranging from 10 to 470 m2/g. The adsorbent with the Ash content H2S Brth H2S Brth
highest surface area was obtained with chemical activation Sample (%) (mg/g) (mg/cm3) pHin pHexh
in at least one step and it contained from 5% to 11% ash.
COFAC-0.5 3.78 81.3 15.3 6.81 3.55
A second activation step doubled the amount of ash as a
result of burn-off. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy COFAC-1 2.29 127.0 22 6.27 2.65
showed strong bands from various oxygen groups, sug- COFAC-2 4.98 18.3 0.53 6.54
gesting a relatively high degree of surface hydrophilicity.
COFAC-0.5A 1.02 26 5.97 5.20 2.81

COFAC-1A 0.87 58 11.38 4.92 2.48

34.3  APPLICATIONS AS ADSORBENTS COFAC-2A 0.93 20.7 0.64 4.81 3.31
FROM GAS AND VAPOR PHASES
Numbers refer to the activation ratio; Brth, breakthrough capacity; in, initial;
exh, exhausted; A, acid washed samples.
The main purpose of converting spent coffee to acti- Reprinted with permission from Ref. 16. Copyright Elsevier, 2012.
vated carbons is the application of the final products as
adsorbents and separation media. Kante and coworkers in sulfuric acid being a predominant product of reactive
tested the derived materials as adsorbents of hydrogen adsorption.
sulfide from air at ambient conditions in the presence of Another hazardous species whose removal was tested
moisture.16 An adsorbent bed (10 mm in diameter, 30 mm on a coffee-derived carbon is formaldehyde vapor. Boona-
height) containing about 3 cm3 of carbon with particle sizes manuayvitaya and coworkers generated formaldehyde
between 1 and 2 mm was subjected to a flow of H2S diluted vapor by purging nitrogen (115 ml/min) through the
with moist air (1000 ppm H2S, 250 ml/min, 80% humidity). formaldehyde solution.22 The vapor was directed to the
Hydrogen sulfide separation from a gas phase is impor- column with the adsorbent and an increase in the weight
tant for air cleaning in municipal water treatment plants; was measured. The adsorption was carried out at 30 °C
in New York City alone, hundreds of tons of activated car- and the concentrations of formaldehyde solutions were
bon are applied for this purpose.23 An attractive feature of 10, 20, 30, and 38 wt%. As adsorbents, the carbon obtained
the coffee-derived carbon is the nitrogen incorporated in using various combinations of chemical activation with
its matrix. Catalytic carbon containing nitrogen, such as ZnCl2 and physical activation with CO2 or steam were
the commercially available Centaur®, are known for a high used. A direct interpretation of the results was rather dif-
yield of conversion of H2S to sulfuric acid on their surface.24 ficult because the carbons exhibited a high level of hydro-
The evaluation of three coffee-derived carbons with philicity; together with formaldehyde, water was retained
activation ratios (ZnCl2:spent coffee) of 0.5, 1, and 2 on the surface in significant quantities. Nevertheless, an
without and with HCl washing indicated that the non- attempt was made to link the capability to adsorb form-
acid-washed carbon with an activation ratio of 1:1 aldehyde to the slope of the lines representing the depen-
was the best adsorbent.16 On its surface, 13 wt% sulfur dence of the weight increase (total amount adsorbed) on
was adsorbed (Table 34.2), which is comparable to the the formaldehyde concentration. The results showed that
amount adsorbed on Centaur or other special catalytic the carbon obtained in a single step of chemical activation
carbons.25 Washing with HCl resulted in an approximate with ZnCl2 was the best adsorbent, even though its surface
50% decrease in the H2S breakthrough capacity, which was of half of that of the most porous carbon obtained in a
was an indication that the inorganic matter residue (ash series of activation procedures. It was concluded that the
content 2.29%) is also involved in binding hydrogen sul- presence of hydrophilic groups, not the porosity, are the
fide through the formation of corresponding salts. The most important factors affecting formaldehyde adsorp-
high dispersion of that inorganic matter is seen on scan- tion on coffee-derived activated carbons.
ning electron microscopy of the coffee-derived carbon
(Figure 34.2). As the most important feature governing
the performance, a high volume of pores with diameters 34.4  APPLICATIONS OF COFFEE-
between 1 and 3 nm was indicated. These pores work as DERIVED CARBONS AS ADSORBENTS
specific nanoreactors where water and hydrogen sul- FROM LIQUID PHASE
fide can be adsorbed. Nitrogen in the pores increases
the basicity and thus helps in the dissociation of H2S The spent coffee-based carbons prepared by Kenniche
to sulfide ions, which are then oxidized by superoxide and coworkers were used as adsorbents of pollutants from
ions.25 The formation of the latter is catalyzed by nitro- a water phase.13,27 The carbons obtained by chemical activa-
gen functionalities incorporated to the carbon matrix.26 tion with ZnCl2 with activation ratios of 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and
Those specific chemical and spatial environments result 1 were first tested as adsorbents of acids.13 Even though the

I.  INTRODUCTORY AND GENERAL TEXT

 34.5  APPLICATIONS OF COFFEE-DERIVED CARBONS AS SUPERCAPACITORS 315
FIGURE 34.2  Micrographs of a
ZnCl2-activated carbon sample (COFC-
1) after thermal treatment. Reprinted
with permission from Ref. 16. Copyright
Elsevier, 2012.

pH of the surface for all carbons was over 10, the amount are arranged on the surface. Moreover, the electron-
of basic groups on the surface decreased with an increase acceptor properties of weakly acidic groups were indi-
in the activation ratio. It was accompanied by an increase in cated as attractive forces directing the phenol molecules
the porosity. The adsorption of salicylic acid was tested at to the most favorable positions on the carbon surface. The
room temperature. One gram of carbon was used and the adsorption efficiency for hydroquinol, phenol, catechol,
concentration of salicylic acid was 30 mg/L (pH 3). The car- and resorcinol were 80%, 80%, 58%, and 48% respec-
bon obtained with a low activation ratio was found to be tively. The performance of spent-coffee derived carbon
the best adsorbent (97% removal). It had the highest ratio of (640 m2/g) was compared to that of commercial unspeci-
basic to acidic groups, as determined by Boehm titration,19 fied activated carbon (950 m2/g) (Figure 34.3). Fitting the
and had the highest degree of microporosity. The efficiency experimental data to the Langmuir model indicated that
of the salicylic acid removal on the other three carbons was the former sample adsorbed 3.22 mg of phenol/g and the
only slightly lower (93.5–95.4), suggesting that the devel- latter adsorbed 3.70 mg/g. These results suggested com-
opment of porosity compensates for the decrease in the petitiveness of the spent coffee-based activated carbons
number of basic groups, which are apparently adsorption with the commercial products.
centers for salicylic acid via specific acid-base interactions. Namane and coworkers also evaluated the suitabil-
On the same series of carbons as those used for salicylic ity of their carbon to remove acidic and basic dyes, acid
acid adsorption, the adsorptive removal of phenols was blue and basic yellow.17 The conditions of the adsorption
evaluated.27 As in the case of salicylic acid, the carbon experiments were the same as those for phenols addressed
obtained with the activation ratio of 0.25 was found to be above. While on the commercial carbon, 4 mg/g of basic
the best adsorbent, on which 68% phenol was removed yellow were adsorbed; on the spent coffee-derived car-
from its 30 mg/L solution (1 g of carbon, 25 °C, pH 3). The bon, the capacity was 2.5 times higher (10 mg/g). The
range of phenol concentrations used to measure adsorp- opposite trend was found for acid blue: on the latter car-
tion isotherms was from 10 to 170 mg/L. The pH values bon, 3.57 mg/g was adsorbed, whereas 8.33 mg/g was
of the initial solution were adjusted by adding either 1 M adsorbed on the former. The good performance of the
NaOH or 0.5 M H2SO4. At equilibrium conditions, the coffee-derived carbon for the removal of basic yellow
carbon adsorbed approximately 85 mg of phenol/g from was linked to the weakly acidic surface of carbon and the
a phenol concentration equal to 170 mg/L. From a con- smaller size of this molecule than that of acid blue.
centration of 90 mg/L, 49 mg of phenol/g was adsorbed.
The peculiar plateau on the isotherms was explained by
the fact that phenol molecules replaced water molecules 34.5  APPLICATIONS OF COFFEE-
adsorbed on the carbon surface at a high phenol concen- DERIVED CARBONS AS
tration. The thermodynamic parameters of adsorption SUPERCAPACITORS
were also evaluated; a heat of adsorption lower than
40 kJ/mol indicated the physical adsorption processes. Rufford and coworkers investigated the application of
Adsorption of hydroquinol, phenol, catechol, and spent coffee-derived carbon as supercapacitors in acidic
resorcinol on spent coffee-derived carbon was also electrolytes.15 The electrochemical behavior of their mate-
investigated by Namane and co-workers.17 The initial con- rials was tested with scan rates between 5 and 100 mV/s.
centration of phenols was 20 mg/L. It was found that the The charge/discharge profiles were measured with current
quantity adsorbed depends on the position of hydroxyl densities between 0.5 A/g and 5 A/g. The carbon obtained
group in the phenol molecule. Because a substitution in using ZnCl2:spent coffee with an activation ratio of 1:1
the para position, as that in hydroquinol, results in a pla- exhibited an energy density up 20 Wh/Kg in 1 M H2SO4
nar structure and a small cross-section area, the surface and a specific capacitance measured in a two-electrode
of carbon can be more efficiently used when molecules cell reached 368  F/g. The cyclic voltammetry curves

I.  INTRODUCTORY AND GENERAL TEXT

316 34.  SPENT COFFEE-BASED ACTIVATED CARBONS

FIGURE 34.4  Cyclic votammograms of coffee ground carbon

(CGC) in a two-electrode cell with 1 M H2SO4. Arrows indicate cyclic
voltammograms at specific scan rates. Reprinted with permission from
Ref. 15. Copyright Elsevier, 2008.

acetonitrile electrolyte (TEABF4/AN).14 Here, the car-

bons obtained with ZnCl2-to-coffee activation ratios of
1, 3.5, and 5 were used. For cyclic voltammetry experi-
ments, the scan ratios were from 5 to 50 mV/s and
charge/discharge profiles in two electrode cells were
measured with current loads from 0.05 to 20 A/g. The
best-performing carbon was that with the highest vol-
ume of mesopores obtained with the highest activation
ratio. Its capacitance was more than 100 F/g at a fast
charge/discharge rate of 20 A/g. The energy density
decreased with a decrease in the activation ratio. For
the best-performing carbon at a low current load, it
was 35 Wh/kg; only that carbon showed a stable per-
FIGURE 34.3  Pore size distribution for carbons before and after formance at a fast charge/discharge ratio (16.5 kW/
(EPM) exposure to H2S. Numbers refer to the activation ratio. A, acid kg). For TEABF4/AN electrolytes, the sizes of ions
washed samples. Reprinted with permission from Ref. 16. Copyright Elsevier,
2012.
are 1.3 nm for TEA+ 7AN and 1.16 nm for BF4− 9AN.30
Therefore, large mesopores in the carbon obtained with
were rectangular, which is usually linked to a good capaci- the highest activation ratio were indicated as the sur-
tive behavior (Figure 34.4). The carbon had a surface area face features of paramount importance at fast charge/
of 1019 m2/g. The total volume of pores was 0.48 cm3/g discharge rates.
and the volume of micropores 0.21 cm2/g. This specific
porosity, and especially the high volume of pores with 34.6  SUMMARY POINTS
sizes between 2 and 4 nm (mesopores), were indicated as
the factors of paramount importance. Moreover, the carbon • S pent coffee has been shown as a very suitable
contained a significant number of quinone groups (20% of precursor for activated carbons. The final materials can
all oxygen groups), which contributed to pseudocapaci- be obtained using either physical (with steam or carbon
tive behavior. In addition to oxygen groups, nitrogen func- dioxide) or chemical (with potassium hydroxide, zinc
tionalities in pyrollic and pyridinic groups were expected chloride, or phosphoric acid) activation.
to take part in Faradaic reactions.28 On the other hand, • The physical and chemical properties of spent
nitrogen in quaternary configurations and in pyridine- coffee-derived activated carbons can be modified
N oxides, owing to a positive charge, assisted in electron by changing the activation agent, holding time, and
transfer to the carbon electrode.29 An important feature activation temperature. Even though potassium
of the coffee-derived carbon was its high stability during hydroxide activation can lead to a carbon with
the charging/discharging process. After 10,000 cycles, the a surface area of approximately 2000 m2/g, the
capacitance remained at 95% of the initial performance. most common method of chemical activation is
Spent coffee-derived carbons were also used as super- the one with zinc chloride. Using this method,
capacitors in tetraethyl ammonium tetrafluoroborate/ micro/mesoporous carbon can be obtained, with a

I.  INTRODUCTORY AND GENERAL TEXT

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I.  INTRODUCTORY AND GENERAL TEXT