A STUDY OF BIOCHAR AS PAINT ADDITIVE

Abstract

There are many uses and applications of biochar, this paper explores the use of biochar in paint as an additive. From literature reviews done, biochar was found to be a suitable support material for the encapsulation of biocide molecules. Experiments were designed to encapsulate biocide in biochar and test the release of biocide. For this dissertation, the biochar used was produced from rice food waste at around 500 ̊C and the biocide used was butylated hydroxytolune (BHT). Methyl cellulose was also used as a polymer to encapsulate both the biocide and biochar. This research aims to understand how biochar can be used as a support material for biocide, find a suitable method for the encapsulation and design experiments to test the encapsulation of biocide with biochar. It was found that methyl cellulose was not a suitable polymer as it could not dissolve in organic solvents. The time release study of BHT showed promising results for the hexadecane solvent used but more tests should be done to find out if biochar did encapsulate the BHT. Due to time, resource constraints and consistency issues, results are varied and should be repeated to ensure that the results are accurate.