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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsResearchers have turned cigarette filters—including discarded smoked butts—into porous carbon and measured substantial hydrogen uptake in one sample. The headline result, however, was obtained at −196 °C and elevated pressure: it is a laboratory material measurement, not a room-temperature storage system or a ready-made hydrogen tank.
What did the researchers make?
In a 2017 study, University of Nottingham researchers L. Scott Blankenship and Robert Mokaya converted fresh cigarette filters and discarded smoked cigarette butts into porous carbon. Their process combined hydrothermal carbonisation with activation. The resulting materials were oxygen-rich and highly porous, with a reported maximum surface area of 4300 m² g−1 and pore volume of 2.09 cm³ g−1. The paper describes these properties and the hydrogen measurements in Energy & Environmental Science.
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The feedstock matters: the study tested carbons derived from both fresh filters and smoked butts. The strongest smoked-butt-derived sample discussed was named SF-4600. It is this processed carbon—not an intact cigarette butt—that produced the reported hydrogen-uptake figures.
How much hydrogen did the carbon take up?
For SF-4600, Blankenship and Mokaya measured hydrogen uptake at −196 °C, or 77 K, at pressures up to 40 bar. At 20 bar, the paper reports 8.1 wt% excess uptake and 9.4 wt% total uptake. The distinction is important: excess and total uptake are different measures, so the values should not be treated as interchangeable.
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| SF-4600 measurement | Reported hydrogen uptake | Conditions |
|---|---|---|
| Excess uptake | 8.1 wt% | −196 °C, 20 bar |
| Total uptake | 9.4 wt% | −196 °C, 20 bar |
| Total uptake | 10.4 wt% | −196 °C, 30 bar |
| Total uptake | 11.2 wt% | −196 °C, 40 bar |
All figures in the table are reported for the laboratory sample SF-4600 in the 2017 paper. They describe measurements under cryogenic conditions, and uptake varies with pressure. A headline percentage without its temperature, pressure, sample identity, and measurement type can therefore give a misleading impression.
Does this demonstrate practical hydrogen storage?
No. The experiment establishes that a specific porous carbon made from cigarette-filter waste can adsorb hydrogen under the reported laboratory conditions. It does not demonstrate storage near room temperature, a finished tank, or a commercially available device. The study’s measurements required −196 °C and elevated pressure; the paper does not show that the same capacity can be retained under ordinary operating conditions.
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In a contemporaneous account, Chemistry World reported that improving hydrogen storage closer to ambient conditions remained an open question. Energy-storage expert Kondo-François Aguey-Zinsou described the capacity at low temperature as impressive, while asking what drives it and whether comparable performance could be achieved closer to ambient conditions.
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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteWhat might the work mean for cigarette-butt waste?
The study explores a possible way to give discarded filters another use by converting them into a material with properties relevant to hydrogen adsorption. That is a waste-valorisation possibility, not proof that cigarette-butt pollution has been solved. The reported work does not establish the economics of collecting and processing the waste, the environmental safety or lifecycle benefits of the process, or a scalable waste-management system.
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It also does not establish current independent replication, scale-up, or commercialization. The evidence supports a promising laboratory result, not a claim that the material is now widely available or ready for deployment.
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What to take away from the result
- Researchers made porous carbon from fresh filters and smoked cigarette butts using hydrothermal carbonisation followed by activation.
- The 2017 paper reports maximum surface area of 4300 m² g−1 and pore volume of 2.09 cm³ g−1.
- For smoked-butt-derived SF-4600, the reported 20-bar result at −196 °C was 8.1 wt% excess uptake or 9.4 wt% total uptake.
- Higher total-uptake figures were reported at higher pressures, also at −196 °C.
- The findings do not establish room-temperature performance, a practical storage system, or a solution to cigarette-butt pollution.
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