Enhancing the adsorption function of biochar by mechanochemical graphitization for organic pollutant removal

Highlights

• Mechanochemical treatment reduced the calcination temperature for biochar synthesis.

• Biochar is converted to graphite after mechanochemical treatment.

• Biochar was reduced to nanoscale after mechanochemical treatment.

Abstract

Biochar (BC) has been extensively studied as adsorbent for the treatment of water pollution. Despite the distinct advantages, the high calcination temperature and low adsorption capacity of pristine BC limit its practical applications. Most of the former studies focused on the structure and/or surface modification to improve the adsorption capacity of BC. However, the harsh experiment conditions involved in the biochar modification limited the application in industrial level. Herein, we introduced mechanical treatment into BC preparation to reduce the calcination temperature and improve the adsorption capacity simultaneously. The results indicated that the calcination temperature was reduced and the adsorption capacity of the treated BC was improved after mechanochemical treatment. Characterization of the samples disclosed that BCs were graphitized with the particle size reduced to nanoscale after treatment. Adsorption tests indicated that the mechanochemically treated BCs showed much better removal performance of organic contaminants than that of pristine BCs. For instance, among four pristine BCs (BC600, BC700, BC800, and BC900), only BC900 has strong adsorption capacity for MB, while BC600 has low adsorption capacity (1.2 mg/g). By comparison, the adsorption capacity of MB increased greatly to 173.96 mg/g by BC600-500/1 (treated at 500 r/min for 1 hour). To optimize the mechanochemical treatment, the effects of rotation speed and agitation duration were also investigated.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Biochar / Mechanochemical treatment / Graphitization / Calcination temperature / Organic pollutant

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 21777106), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (No. 2017A030313046) and Basic Research Project of Shenzhen City, China (No. JCYJ20170818093429961).

Credit Author Statement

Credit Author Statement

Peidong Su: Methodology, experimental operation, original draft preparation.

Xiangyu Gao: Manuscript revise, English polish, and result discussion.

Junke Zhang: Adsorption kinetic analysis and sorption isotherms, calculation.

Ridha Djellabi: Language checking.

Bo Yang: Supervision, writing- reviewing and editing.

Qi Wu: Characterization, data analysis.

Zhen Wen: XPS analysis.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-021-1418-2 and is accessible for authorized users.

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