Advanced Carbon Materials from Biomass: an Overview

This book aims at providing a state-of-the-art review about the production, refining and application of biomass-derived carbon materials. The energy crisis, environmental pollution and global warming are serious problems that are of great concern throughout the world. Around 40% of world´s current energy consumption is dedicated to the production of materials and chemicals, which are mostly derived from fossil fuels. These materials need to be simple to synthesise, as cost effective as possible and ideally based on renewable resources. Carbon materials are ideal candidates for performing many of these functions. In the past decade, the nanostructured forms of crystalline carbon (fullerenes, carbon nanotubes and graphene) have received the most attention due to remarkable and unusual physicochemical properties. However, the main disadvantage of using these crystalline nanocarbons for energy and environmental related applications is their high production costs. Alternatively, carbon materials derived from renewable resources (e.g., lignocellulosic biomass) could play a very powerful role in this direction in the near future.

The main objective of the GreenCarbon European Training Network (MSCA-ITN-ETN-721991) is to develop new scientific knowledge, technology, and commercial products and processes for biomass-derived carbons. This will be accomplished through outstanding research and training programmes for fourteen early-stage researchers (ESRs). As part of the training programme, all the ESRs have co-authored at least one chapter of the present book. The respective chapters served as pieces of literature summing up the aims and science of the network. Furthermore, this collaborative training activity has provided the ESRs with additional insights into many aspects of the process of writing/editing.