Abstract
Biomass is a source of low-cost adsorbents used in the removal of contaminants. In this study, shells from an indigenous tree in Southern Africa called Morula were pyrolyzed to produce biochar that was used to sequester heavy metals from coal wash water. The produced biochar was activated using hydrochloric acid (HCl) and parameters such as the cation exchange capacity (CEC), point of zero charge (pHzc), elemental composition, mineral composition, proximate analysis and surface functional groups were determined. Batch adsorption experiments were carried out at 150 rpm for 60 min and 25 ºC at different metal ion concentrations and adsorbent dosages. The metal ions of interest were Zn, Ni and Fe and it was found that Fe recorded higher removals for both raw and activated biochar. Generally higher removals were noticed for both raw and activated at lower dosages (0.2 – 1.0 g/100 mL) and lower metal ion concentration (between 40 and 60 ppm) while lower removals were found at higher dosages (1 – 5 g/100 mL) and higher metal ion concentrations (between 400 – 600 ppm).
Highlights
Water pollution is a serious global issue which adversely affects our lives and studies show that it is expected to worsen in the coming decades (Ali and Gupta, 2007)
When using activated biochar (Figure 7), all the ions had a similar trend: as the dosage increased the removal percentages dropped until they reached a constant point
Fe was preferentially removed using both raw and activated biochar and this might have been due to the ionic radius of these ions
Summary
Water pollution is a serious global issue which adversely affects our lives and studies show that it is expected to worsen in the coming decades (Ali and Gupta, 2007). It was discovered that chemical contaminants contribute to pollution of water sources after discovery of analytical methods to measure these contaminants (Sharma and Bhattacharya, 2017) These include anionic substances (nitrates, sulphates, chlorides, fluorides and phosphates), toxic metals including heavy metals and organics such as pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and insecticides together with dyes and hydrocarbons (Sen and Gomez, 2011). These contaminants are contained in effluents from different industrial activities such as manufacture of cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, fertilisers, food, textiles, steel and mining industries (Cao et al, 2019). Research on adsorption was unearthed by the desire to achieve zero pollution and a green technology as it was identified as environmentally friendly due to application of clean adsorbent materials especially biochars
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