Page 22 - Tree Line - North Carolina Forestry Association - Second Quarter 2021

LEGISLATIVE/ASSOCIATION NEWS
The Search for Sustainable Carbon Materials
Using the Loblolly Pine to Move Away from a Fossil-Based Economy
BY AMANDA MURPHY, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS
Q What prompted you to research this topic, specifically?
Materials like natural graphite come
from fossil resources, and thus, there are numerous environmental issues, including a lack of sustainability. Our number one motivation was to develop a technology for fuels, chemicals, and materials from naturally occurring biomass, to replace those materials that come from petroleum.
How can this research
be used in functional day- to-day activities?
Have you seen a Tesla? The lithium-ion batteries they have created are the biggest market in the near future for energy storage. These batteries can be recharged hundreds of times and are more stable than other batteries. They tend to have a higher energy density and lower self-discharge rate than other rechargeable batteries. This makes for better power efficiency, as a single cell has
a longer charge retention than other battery types. There are many other industries using graphite, such as fuel cells, nuclear reactors, and refractories.
Recently, I had the pleasure of partnering with our local land grant university, North Carolina State University (NCSU), to share details about important research
taking place in the Department of Forest Biomaterials. I spoke with Sunkyu Park, Ph.D., an E.J. “Woody” Rice Associate Professor & University Faculty Scholar, about the interesting topic of using forestry biomass for energy.
Dr. Park had a recent opportunity to present his research on manufacturing carbon materials in the lab at NCSU. Dr. Park’s group has received $5.5 million in funding from the Department of Energy, which has enabled him to work with several industry partners and a national lab to make graphite from natural resources like the loblolly pine on a pilot scale. It is a 4.5-year project and will be kicking off in the next two to three months.
QWhat are carbon materials, and how were they used in your research?
Q
Carbon materials are products consisting of carbon elements. Depending on how carbon is arranged (e.g., nano-scale structure, density, size, surface area), different types
of carbon materials are created in the market, including biochar, activated carbon, graphite, diamond, and graphene.
Our group first had to gain a deeper understanding of biochar, then moved
on to researching activated carbon, and finally to researching and manufacturing graphite. As you go down the list of materials, each one is more expensive and of higher quality than the next.
20 ncforestry.org / SECOND QUARTER 2021
BIOCHAR
Least Expensive Lowest Quality
ACTIVATED CARBON
More Expensive Higher Quality
GRAPHITE
Most Expensive Highest Quality
Sunkyu Park, Ph.D. working in the lab at NCSU.
MARC HALL, NCSU