Pasit Pakawatpanurut

In this work, a green conversion process was introduced in order to turn biomass waste
into useful applications. Through extensive collaboration that included researchers at Prince of
Songkla University, Chiang Mai University, Kasetsart University, Imperial College London, MTEC,
and Mahidol University, aquatic weed water hyacinth was converted into solid and liquid fractions
using green process of hydrothermal carbonization. The solid fraction corresponded to magnetic
carbon material that showed high specific surface area and porosity. Interestingly, this product
fraction was able to function as efficient adsorbent for methylene blue (524.20 mg g-1), methyl
orange (425.15 mg g-1), and tetracycline (294.24 mg g-1) with rapid adsorption kinetics. On the
other hand, a facile KOH activation could be used to successfully turn the liquid fraction into a
carbon material that showed a very high specific surface area of 2545 cm2 g-1. This obtained
carbon was used to fabricate a supercapacitor with specific capacitance of 100 F g-1 and good
retention of performance even after 10,000 cycles of operation. Taken together, this work is a
good demonstration of a sustainable, green process that can be used to fully convert bio-waste
into useful products, which is consistent with the sustainable cities/communities and the
responsible consumption/production SDG goals.