129Xe NMR Studies of Pecan Shell-Based Biochar and Structure-Process Correlations

Pecan shell-based biochar is utilized as a filtration medium, sequestrant for metallic ions, soil conditioner, and other applications. One process for creating the biochar involves the use of phosphoric acid at high temperature in a partial oxygen atmosphere to produce a highly porous carbonaceous material. In this work, we found ¹²⁹Xe NMR to be an excellent technique to study micropores in biochar. Thus, the ¹²⁹Xe chemical shift in biochar was found to vary linearly with the xenon pressure; from the data an estimate of about 8–9 Å could be proposed for the average pore diameter in pecan shell-based biochar. Through saturation recovery and 2-D NMR exchange experiments, information on the exchange between free versus bound xenon was obtained. Furthermore, correlations of ¹²⁹Xe NMR data with the carbonization process conditions were made.