Carbonization
“Carbonization or carbonisation is the term for the conversion of an organic substance into carbon or a carbon-containing residue through pyrolysis or destructive distillation. It is often used in organic chemistry with reference to the generation of coal gas and coal tar from raw coal. Fossil fuels in general are the products of the carbonization of vegetable matter.”
“Carbonization is often exothermic, which means that it could in principle be made self-sustaining and be used as a source of energy which does not produce carbon dioxide. In the case of glucose, the reaction releases about 237 calories per gram.”
“When biomaterial is exposed to sudden searing heat (as in the case of an atomic bomb explosion or pyroclastic flow from a volcano, for instance), it can be carbonized extremely quickly, turning it into solid carbon. In the destruction of Herculaneum by a volcano, many organic objects such as furniture were carbonized by the intense heat.”
Recent Journal Articles
Carbonization of Poly(methyl methacrylate) by Incorporating Hydroxyapatite Nanorods during Thermal Degradation
(10903–10909) Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research 50 #19 (2011)
Dong et al of the University of Science and Technology of China, China, synthesized poly(methyl methacrylate)/hydroxyapatite nanorod (PMMA/HANR) composites by in situ polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) in a suspension of HANRs in ethanol. It was found that the thermal properties of the composites were improved effectively by increasing the inorganic HANR loading, especially when the amount of loaded HANRs was high enough (≥9.3 wt %). The experimental results showed that graphitized char was generated in the residue after thermal degradation of the composites in air at 550 °C for 0.5 h. The residues of the composites with higher inorganic loadings formed a compact and continuous network structure made up of inorganic fillers and carbonaceous char. This indicates that the carbonization behavior of HANRs in PMMA matrix leads to improvement of the thermal properties of the polymer. (RDC 10/11/2011)
Conditions and features of matrix and bulk carbonization of the organic precursors
(4465-4470) Journal of Materials Science 46 #13 (2011)
Lysenko et al, Ukraine, studiedmatrix and bulk carbonization of some organic precursors (sucrose, acetonitrile) in silica mesoporous materials SBA-15 and KIT-6. The carbon mesoporous materials CMK-8 obtained in the mesopores of KIT-6 had higher adsorption characteristics because of three-dimensional cubic structure, larger pore volume and framework’s wall thickness. It was established that partially graphitized spatially well-organized carbon materials were formed as a result of pyrolysis of acetonitrile in the silica matrices SBA-15 and KIT-6. It was conditioned by the absence of considerable spatial limitations for growth of graphite structures on the initial stage of the synthesis when the pores of the matrix were not filled up with the organic precursor. Product of bulk carbonization of sucrose is compact carbon microporous framework with low sorption characteristics (micropore volume is 0.09 cm3/g). (RDC 4/24/2011)