Abstract

Biochar (BC) has exhibited a great potential to remove water contaminants due to its wide availability of raw materials, high surface area, developed pore structure, and low cost. However, the application of BC for water remediation has many limitations. Driven by the intense desire of overcoming unfavorable factors, a growing number of researchers have carried out to produce BC-based composite materials, which not only improved the physicochemical properties of BC, but also obtained a new composite material which combined the advantages of BC and other materials. This article reviewed previous researches on BC and BC-based composite materials, and discussed in terms of the preparation methods, the physicochemical properties, the performance of contaminant removal, and underlying adsorption mechanisms. Then the recent research progress in the removal of inorganic and organic contaminants by BC and BC-based materials was also systematically reviewed. Although BC-based composite materials have shown high performance in inorganic or organic pollutants removal, the potential risks (such as stability and biological toxicity) still need to be noticed and further study. At the end of this review, future prospects for the synthesis and application of BC and BC-based materials were proposed. This review will help the new researchers systematically understand the research progress of BC and BC-based composite materials in environmental remediation.

Highlights

  • Along with the rapid growth of industry and economy, water pollution has seriously endangered the environment and human health

  • We summarized the physicochemical properties of biochar, the preparation method, the performance, and the mechanisms of BC,and BC-based composite materials for contaminants removal, and reviewed the latest progress of BC-based materials in the removal of inorganic and organic pollutants from water and soil

  • The results showed that the maximum adsorption capacities of Cu(II) and Zn(II) reached up to 128 μg/g and 107 μg/g, respectively, which indicated that BC was a promising adsorbent to remove of heavy metals from the contaminated water

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Summary

Introduction

Along with the rapid growth of industry and economy, water pollution has seriously endangered the environment and human health. BC-based composite materials can be selectively designed or produced for the target pollutants by adding functional materials, magnetic substances, and nanoparticles. As is known to all, the contaminant’s removal efficiency and mechanisms of BC and BC-based composite materials were related to the mineral content, ionic content, organic functional groups, etc. Other researchers found that under oxidizing conditions, the application of BC in soil remediation increased the concentration of As and Co in the dissolved phase All of these toxic chemicals may transfer into food chains and cause toxic or side effects on human and environmental health (El-Naggar et al 2019b, c; Rinklebe et al 2020). We summarized the physicochemical properties of biochar, the preparation method, the performance, and the mechanisms of BC,and BC-based composite materials for contaminants removal, and reviewed the latest progress of BC-based materials in the removal of inorganic and organic pollutants from water and soil. The potential risks of BC applications and future directions are briefly described

The physicochemical properties of biochar
The preparation of biochar‐based composites
Biochar‐magnetic composites
Nanometallic oxide/hydroxide biochar composites
Other types of functionalized biochar
Removal of heavy metal contaminants
Removal of inorganic contaminants by biochar
Removal of inorganic contaminants by biochar‐based composites
Removal of organic contaminants
Removal of dye contaminants
Removal of dye contaminants by biochar
Removal of dye contaminants by biochar‐based composite materials
Removal of phenol contaminants
Removal of phenol contaminants by biochar
Removal of phenol contaminants by biochar‐based composite materials
Removal of antibiotic contaminants
Removal of antibiotic contaminants by biochar
Removal of antibiotic contaminants by biochar‐based composites
Removal of pesticide contaminants
Removal of pesticide contaminants by biochar
Removal of pesticide contaminants by biochar‐based composite materials
Immobilized microorganisms on biochar
Biochar‐based biofilters
Biochar‐based 2D membrane
Potential risks of biochar and biochar‐based composite materials
Findings
Conclusion and prospective
Full Text
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