Converting Polystyrene and Corn Waste into Activated Carbon with High Surface Area

The significant challenges of plastic waste management and agricultural by-product treatment demand innovative and sustainable solutions. Polystyrene (PS) is a widely used synthetic polymer; however, without effective post-use treatment, it can cause significant adverse impacts on both human health and the environment. In recent years, co-pyrolysis technology has emerged as a promising thermochemical approach for converting such materials into value-added products. This work investigates the co-pyrolysis of both PS and CS to produce biochar (BC), followed by chemical activation using 5 M KOH to obtain activated carbon (AC) with high surface area. We found that the optimal conditions for copyrolysis were identified at a PS:CS mass ratio of 1:2, a temperature of 500 °C, and a residence time of 1.5 h. The BC obtained under these conditions exhibited a surface area of 58.74 m² g⁻¹. Subsequent the activation process with KOH at a BC: KOH mass ratio of 1:3, a temperature of 750 °C, and a duration of 3h have synthesized the achieved AC with an excellent surface area of 914.83 m² g⁻¹.The results of work demonstrate the promising of combining co-pyrolysis with chemical activation as a sustainable strategy for waste valorization that promise for wider applications in environmental energy storage, and other advanced technological fields.