You are here:
Cleaning Water Contaminated with Heavy Metal Ions Using Pyrolyzed Biochar Adsorbents
Citation:
DeMessie, B., E. Sahle-Demessie, AND G. Sorial. Cleaning Water Contaminated with Heavy Metal Ions Using Pyrolyzed Biochar Adsorbents. Separation Science and Technology. Marcel Dekker Incorporated, New York, NY, 50(16):2448-2457, (2015).
Impact/Purpose:
Agricultral waste based biometerials can be pyrolyzed (slow and fast) and converted to adsorbents for removing pollutants from water and wastewater. Adsorption capacities for metal contaminats by biochars under different operating conditions are high. The study facilitated the development of a sustainable technology and low cost approach for treating water in developing countries.
Description:
The extraction of pollutants from water using activated biochar materials is a low cost, sustainable approach for providing safe water in developing countries. The adsorption of copper ions, Cu (II), onto banana peels that were dried, pyrolyzed and activated was studied and compared with the adsorption of copper ions onto a commercial activated carbon, F-400. Both the physical and chemical properties of the banana peel and activated carbon were measured. Pyrolysis of dried banana peels resulted in the formation of a large, porous surface area adsorbent with strongly negative surface charges. Screening studies, which were designed to evaluate the effect of the mass of the adsorbent, pH of the solution, tumbling time, and initial Cu (II) concentration were conducted for each adsorbent. Equilibrium adsorption data were also analyzed, and the Freundlich isotherm resulted in a better fit than the Langmuir isotherm. The degree of favorability of adsorption of Cu (II) ions and adsorption capacity were 1.25 and 351.1 mg/g for pyrolyzed banana peel, respectively. The sorption kinetics fit a pseudo-second order equation.
