Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2024

Department

Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering; Department of Biological Sciences

Abstract

Vetiver root is widely used to produce essential oils in the aromatherapy industry. After the extraction of oil, the roots are disposed of as waste. The central objective of this research was to explore the conversion of this waste into a resource using a circular economy framework. To generate biochar, vetiver roots were pyrolyzed at different temperatures (300, 500, and 700 °C) and residence times (30, 60, and 120 min). Analysis showed the root biochar generated at 500 °C and held for 60 min had the highest surface area of 308.15 m2/g and a yield of 53.76%, in addition to other favorable characteristics. Comparatively, the surface area and the yield of shoot biochar were significantly lower compared to those of the roots. Repurposing the spent root biomass for environmental and agronomic benefits, our circular economy concept prevents the plant tissue from entering landfills or the waste stream.

Publisher's Statement

Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Publisher’s version of record: https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules29010063

Publication Title

Molecules

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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