In order to use lignosulfonates (a by-product of pulp and paper processes) as an effective dispersant of coal water slurry five purified sodium lignosulfonate (SL) samples with different molecular weights were prepared by fractionation using ultrafiltration and dialysis.
The effect of SL on the apparent viscosity of coal water slurry (CWS) was investigated. The adsorption behavior of the SL on the coal water interface has much greater effect on the viscosity of coal water slurry.
The higher adsorption amount and compact adsorption film of SL on the coal surface help reduce the viscosity of CWS, and the zeta potential is also an important factor, which is influenced by the sulfonic and carboxyl group contents of the lignosulfonate molecule. Furthermore, the SL with its molecular weight ranging from 10,000 to 30,000 has both a higher adsorbed amount and zeta potential on the coal surface and the best effect on reducing the viscosity of the coal water slurry.
Interconnected hierarchical porous carbon was successfully prepared by direct carbonization of industrial waste sodium lignosulfonate without additional templating and activation agents. The as-prepared carbon sample shows a moderate specific surface area of 903 m2 g−1 and high contents of 8.11 at% oxygen and 1.76 at% nitrogen, which could improve the electrolyte-affinitive surface area in an aqueous electrolyte. When used as electrode materials for symmetric supercapacitors in 7 M KOH electrolytes, the as-synthesized carbon sample exhibits a significantly high gravimetric capacitance of 247 F g−1, a volumetric capacitance of 240 F cm−3, and an areal capacitance of 27.4 μF cm−2 at a current density of 0.05 A g−1. Moreover, a superior energy density of 8.4 W h L−1 (at 13.9 W L−1) and a power density of 5573.1 W L−1 (at 3.5 W h L−1), as well as a remarkable cycling stability after 20 000 cycles at two different current densities were achieved for the assembled supercapacitors.