Electron microscopic study on catalytic carbonization of biomass carbon: I. Carbonization of wood charcoal at high temperature by Al-triisopropoxide

Currently, carbonized materials from wood or waste have been focused upon as raw materials for carbons. These carbons are important for the production of artificial graphite. First hand observation was done on the growth of long parallel graphite structures in wood charcoal. A comparison is made between graphitization in pure biomass carbon and catalytic graphitization in biomass carbon suspended in Al-triisopropoxide. Both types of samples were carbonized during 5 min under an argon pressure of 50 MPa at temperatures up to 2500 Kelvin. Catalytic graphitization was developed by formation and dissociation of plate like Al4C3, but only at temperatures higher than 2000 K.