Abstract
In the present study, the efficiency of phenol removal from synthetic aqueous solutions by chemically modified biochar with the use of 1M KOH or 1M FeCl3 was investigated. Initially, biochar was produced after slow pyrolysis of three different agricultural wastes, namely pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) shells, pecan (Carya illinoinensis) shells and wood sawdust. The quality of biochar was assessed by evaluating its main properties, such as pH, surface area, porosity and C content. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) were used for the identification of biochar’s structure. The efficiency of phenol removal from synthetic solutions was assessed with the use of kinetic and equilibrium experiments. The experimental results show that the KOH-modified biochar exhibited the highest phenol removal efficiency. Hydrophobic sorption on its surface is the main phenol removal mechanism. The pseudo-second order model fits best the kinetic data, while the Freundlich model, as deduced from an equilibrium study describes very well sorption of phenols on all biochars examined.
Highlights
Biochar is a carbon rich and porous material which is produced by thermal conversion of biomass in low oxygen atmosphere at temperature usually not exceeding 600◦C
It is shown that the pyrolysis yield varies between 17.7 and 34.7% depending on pyrolysis temperature, heating rate and residence time (Komnitsas et al, 2015; Tripathi et al, 2016)
The volatile matter (VM) content of all biochars is substantially decreased compared to the raw materials, while the VM content of biochar PI is higher compared to PE and SD biochars
Summary
Biochar is a carbon rich and porous material which is produced by thermal conversion of biomass in low oxygen atmosphere at temperature usually not exceeding 600◦C. Slow pyrolysis of biomass has the advantage of retaining almost half of its carbon in stable biochar (Manyà, 2012; Kim et al, 2013). Biochar is an environmentally friendly material and may exhibit similar properties with activated carbon. Biochar’s ability to retain nutrients is considered very important in terms of improving soil fertility and crop productivity (Steiner et al, 2008; Sánchez et al, 2009; Cayuela et al, 2013; Kloss et al, 2014; Sánchez-García et al, 2014)
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