Sustainable fabrication of hierarchical porous carbon from bagasse via recyclable template‑coupled CO2 activation and pore structure-performance correlation in phenol adsorption.

Green and low-cost synthesis strategies for adsorbents, combined with the rational design of pore structures, significantly impact adsorption performance and the practical application potential for pollutant removal. In the present study, the waste biomass-bagasse was used as raw material and a synergistic pore-forming strategy combining a recyclable template with CO2 activation was established to fabricate a series of porous carbon materials with tailored mesopore/micropore ratios. The structure-activity relationship between the pore structure of the as-prepared porous carbons and their phenol adsorption performance was comprehensively elucidated through equilibrium adsorption experiments, adsorption kinetics, adsorption thermodynamics, and continuous fixed-bed adsorption-regeneration experiments. The prepared BPC-1-1 featuring a hierarchical micro-mesoporous architecture demonstrates superior yet well-balanced performance in adsorption capacity, uptake kinetics, and dynamic adsorption-regeneration capability for continuous phenol capture. Furthermore, theoretical calculations were employed to elucidate the adsorption enhancement effect attributed to chemical sites on the carbon surface, while scale-up test validated the feasibility of scaling up the synthesis strategy. This work offers theoretical guidance for the pore structure design and modulation of high-efficiency phenol adsorbents, as well as provides new insights into the synthesis and application of low-cost and sustainable porous carbon adsorbents.