Feasibility of Biochar from Seaweed for Ferroalloy Production

Biochar from seaweed, specifically sugar kelp, cultivated on the Norwegian coastline has been investigated as a possible biocarbon source for the metal industry to reduce the dependency on terrestrial biomass. Pre-processing of the biomass prior to pyrolysis is needed to reduce the water and ash content and was performed by water and acid washing followed by drying. The three types of biochar were obtained after pyrolysis at a temperature of 550 degrees C. Characterization of the three batches of biochars showed that pre-processing of the seaweed as was done during the water and acid washing, plays an important role on the removal of ash content. Due to the enormous amount of woody biomass needed for example in the ferroalloy industry to replace fossil coal, replacing only parts of the woody biomass with kelp biochar could have a significant impact. Water washing combined with acid washing had the best results considering the ash and fixed carbon contents. Microstructural analysis of the seaweed biochars showed a very porous material with the crystal structure resembling that of charcoal, albeit a lower degree of crystallinity.