Valorization of polluted biomass waste for manufacturing sustainable cathode materials for the production of hydrogen peroxide

•High metal content phytoremediation waste was valorized for the production of H2O2.•Hydrothermal carbonization+activation is a suitable technique for valorization.•Hydrochar activated by KOH (HC-KOH) showed the best electrochemical behavior.•H2O2 accumulation with HC-KOH was close to 70% that of vulcan XC72 (CB).•HC-KOH and HC1000 (activated at 1000ºC) enhance (40%) the production of OH· vs CB. A circular economy approach was followed to convert biomass wastes polluted with metals (obtained from phytoremediation processes) to generate electroactive carbon materials to be used in the electrochemical production of hydrogen peroxide. Carbon materials were pretreated using hydrothermal carbonization at 200ºC and 130 g soil mL−1 water and post treated through pyrolysis at different temperatures (300ºC, 500ºC and 1000ºC) and using different chemical precursors as KOH or H3PO4. These materials would modify the carbon paper (CP) cathodes to substitute the commonly used carbon black (CB), that comes from fossil fuels. Porosity, thermochemical behavior, electrical conductivity, electrocatalytic response and H2O2 accumulation tests were evaluated to determine the potential performance of these materials in the electrochemical production of hydrogen peroxide. Delays in mass losses observed in thermogravimetric studies indicate the improvement of the thermal stability of materials which are related with the highest electrical conductivity (that correspond to hydrochar pyrolyzed at 1000 ºC). High specific surface areas (1097 and 704 m2/g) were also found with hydrochars treated with chemical precursors with values even superior to commercial CB. Results show that all activated hydrochars present electrocatalytic activity towards the production of hydrogen peroxide and that the materials chemically activated with KOH can achieve a 70% of the H2O2 production obtained with commercial CB. Moreover, it was found that the presence of metals in the synthesized materials may promote a Fenton-like reaction, increasing by 40% the generation of hydroxyl radicals with respect to commercial CB. This paramount finding opens the window for the use of this phytoremediation waste to produce sustainable electrode materials for upgraded electrochemical advanced oxidation processes. [Display omitted]