The development of affordable and modular water/wastewater treatment technologies is highly desirable to counter the adverse effect of antibiotics. Electrochemical treatment, especially electrocatalysis, has a vast potential to degrade antibiotics...
Pine needle litter in Himalayan forests
leads to forest fires,
ground water recharge inhibition, soil acidification and contamination,
and stops the growth of grass and plants. This study provides a possible
solution for pine needle litter problem by converting it to biochar.
Pine needle litter lying on the ground for approximately a month was
collected from the Himalayan region. The pine needle litter biochars
were generated using slow pyrolysis (residence time, 30 min; heating
rate, 10 °C/min) at 350, 450, 550, 650, and 750 °C. Finally,
pine needle litter biochar prepared at 550 °C (PNBC550) was selected
for sorptive removal of aqueous lead both in batch and column studies.
The PNBC550 was characterized for proximate and elemental compositions,
crystallinity, surface area, morphology, and functional groups. A
BET surface area of 230.9 m
2
/g was obtained for PNBC550.
Batch sorption studies were carried out to study (1) the adsorption
versus pH studies (at pH 2 to 7), (2) isotherms (at 10, 25, and 35
°C) to evaluate the temperature effect on the sorption efficiency,
and (3) kinetics to reveal the effect of time, adsorbent dose, and
initial concentration on the reaction rate. Increasing pyrolysis temperature
raised lead sorption up to 550 °C. Lead adsorption increased
considerably as pH rose from 2 to a maximum adsorption around pH 5
and above. The sorption data were fitted using different isotherm
models and kinetic equations. The Langmuir adsorption capacity increased
from 22.93 mg/g at 10 °C to 40.43 mg/g at 35 °C, showing
that adsorption was endothermic. Fixed-bed studies were conducted
at room temperature with an initial lead concentration of 7.85 mg/L
and 4.0 g of PNBC550 at initial pH 5.0 and a flow rate of 3 mL/min.
Desorption studies conducted under the same experimental conditions
found about 90–93% lead recovery. Development of high-efficiency
biochars for lead remediation provides a sustainable solution for
the Himalayan pine needle litter problem. The biochars also possess
the possible potential for aqueous removal of other metal cations.
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