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This study investigated if biochar, a low-cost carbon-rich material, can be modified with reactive materials for decolorization of dyeing wastewater. Two types of rice husk biochars were produced by using different processes of gasification and pyrolysis in limited air condition. The biochars were first magnetized and then modified with nano-scale zero-valent iron (nZVI) to achieve the final products of magnetic-nZVI biochars. Batch experiments were conducted to investigate the efficiency of the modified biochars for reducing color of the reactive dyes yellow (RY145), red (RR195), and blue (RB19) from dyeing solutions. Results showed that color removal efficiency of the modified biochars was significantly enhanced, achieving the values of 100% for RY145 and RR195 and ≥65% for RB19, while the effectiveness of the original biochar was significantly lower. In addition, with increasing dose of the modified biochars, the color removal efficiency increased accordingly. In contrast, when the dose of nZVI was increased beyond a certain value then its color removal efficiency decreased accordingly. It is reported that the magnetic-nZVI rice husk biochars effectively removed the reactive dyes. The impregnation of nZVI particles on the biochar surface spatially separates the nZVI particles, prevents its aggregation and therefore enhances the decolorization efficiency.

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Difficulties in the production of lignin from rice straw because of high silica content in the recovered lignin reduce its recovery yield and applications as bio-fuel and aromatic chemicals. Therefore, the objective of this study is to develop a novel method to reduce the silica content in lignin from rice straw more effectively and selectively. The method is established by monitoring the precipitation behavior as well as the chemical structure of precipitate by single-stage acidification at different pH values of black liquor collected from the alkaline treatment of rice straw. The result illustrates the significant influence of pH on the physical and chemical properties of the precipitate and the supernatant. The simple two-step acidification of the black liquor at pilot-scale by sulfuric acid 20w/v% is applied to recover lignin at pH 9 and pH 3 and gives a percentage of silica removal as high as 94.38%. Following the developed process, the high-quality lignin could be produced from abundant rice straw at the industrial-scale.

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