Preparation of highly efficient p-doped porous camellia shell-based activated carbon and its adsorption of carotenoids in camellia oil

Run Tian; Yang Liu; Danyu Cao; Lili Gai; Nan Du; Jiangyu Yin; Dongbin Hu; Haiqin Lu; Wen Li; Kai Li

doi:10.3389/fnut.2022.1058025

Preparation of highly efficient p-doped porous camellia shell-based activated carbon and its adsorption of carotenoids in camellia oil

Front Nutr. 2022 Nov 16:9:1058025. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.1058025. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Run Tian¹, Yang Liu¹, Danyu Cao¹, Lili Gai¹, Nan Du¹, Jiangyu Yin¹, Dongbin Hu¹, Haiqin Lu¹, Wen Li², Kai Li^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ College of Light Industry and Food Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning, China.
² Guangxi Key Laboratory of Chemistry and Engineering of Forest Products, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi University for Nationalities, Nanning, China.
³ Provincial and Ministerial Collaborative Innovation Center for Sugar Industry, Nanning, China.

Abstract

The vegetable oil industry is limited by the high cost of the refining process, and the camellia shells (CS) are beneficial to the development of the industry as a biomass raw material for camellia oil decolorization. In this study, CS-based p-doped porous activated carbon (CSHAC) obtained after the pyrolysis of H₃PO₄-laden CS-hydrochar (CSH) was used for the adsorption of carotenoids in camellia oil. The results showed that the adsorption efficiency of CSHAC for carotenoids was 96.5% compared to 67-87% for commercial decolorizers, and exhibited a fast adsorption rate (20 min). The results of adsorption isotherms indicated that the adsorption of carotenoids on CSHAC occurred through a multi-layer process. Furthermore, the analysis of adsorption kinetics showed that the adsorption of carotenoids by CSHAC was a complex process involving physical and chemical reactions, and chemisorption was the dominant kinetic mechanism. This superior performance of CSHAC in adsorbing carotenoids was attributed to its micro-mesoporous structure, hydrophobicity, and numerous active sites.

Keywords: activated carbon; adsorption; camellia oil; interaction; mechanism.