Performance of wild plants-derived biochar in the remediation of water contaminated with lead: sorption optimization, kinetics, equilibrium, thermodynamics and reusability studies

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the sorptive performance of Pb(II) from water of a novel biochar (WPC) produced by fast pyrolysis under anoxic conditions of wild plants (WP). The maximum Pb(II) sorption capacity of WPC is 50.25 mg/g under determined optimum conditions, which are solution pH 5.0, WPC dose 50 mg, contact time 180 min and solution temperature 50 °C. The sorption kinetics and isotherm data were observed to fit well with the Ho-McKay and Langmuir models, respectively. The thermodynamic parameters (ΔG o, ΔH o and ΔS o) calculated for the WPC-Pb(II) sorption system showed that the process was spontaneous and endothermic. The Pb(II) desorption and regeneration studies of WPC with different desorbent agents was also performed. The findings in this study showed that WP can be used as an abundant precursor in the production of very low cost and eco-friendly biochar, and also that its biochar can be used as an environmentally-friendly sorbent in wastewater treatment. Novelty statement With increasing population and developing industry in the world, agriculture and industrial wastes are increasing. These wastes create environmental and water pollution and adversely affect the health of living things. Efforts to eliminate these negativities have a negative impact on the world economy. For this purpose, various improvement methods are applied. However, the adsorption method is widely used due to its ease of application, efficiency and economic. In order to make this method more economical, many researchers have carried out researches on the preparation of low-cost adsorbents, especially from vegetable wastes. The novelty of this study is the first reporting to use wild plants as a sustainable precursor to produce a low-cost biochar using the traditional pyrolysis method and to examine its adsorption performance for Pb(II) ion removal from water. I believe that if this study is published, it will create a paradigm in environmental improvement studies on wild plants evaluation.