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Benign Zinc Oxide Betaine-Modified Biochar Nanocomposites for Phosphate Removal from Aqueous Solutions
Citation:
Nakarmi, A., S. Bourdo, L. Ruhl, S. Kanel, M. Nadagouda, P. Kumar Alla, I. Pavel, AND T. Viswanathan. Benign Zinc Oxide Betaine-Modified Biochar Nanocomposites for Phosphate Removal from Aqueous Solutions. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, 272:111048, (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.111048
Impact/Purpose:
Biochar was utilized to synthesize a new form of phosphate removing nanocomposite, by a straightforward, quick, effortless and an economically viable process.A real wastewater sample tested for phosphate removal using the media also proved to be very efficient. The media is excellent for single-use because of the extremely high adsorption capacity, and the used media is suggested for use in the soil for fertilizer and carbon sequestration.
Description:
Biochar is one of the promising adsorbents for phosphorus remediation, as well as heavy metal removal from contaminated water. It is a solid material, prepared from biomass, like wood waste, by low temperature (< 700¿C) pyrolysis under a limited supply of oxygen. In this study, biochar was used as the renewable resource material, which was impregnated with nano zinc oxide in the presence of glycine betaine. The nanocomposites proved to be an excellent adsorbent for the removal of phosphate, exhibiting a high capacity of phosphate (265.5 mg.g-1) and fast kinetics. The synthesis of these benign biochar-based nanocomposites involves a process that is eco-friendly and economically feasible. The nanocomposites were characterized using Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy (ESEM), High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area analysis, Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), Micro-Raman Spectroscopy, and Ionic Chromatography (IC). Langmuir (KL: 279.7×10-5 L.mg-1) and Freundlich (KF: 137.6×10-2 (mg.g-1) (mg.L-1)-n, n: 1.65) adsorption isotherms showed the monolayered mechanism with heterogeneous surface. Lagergren pseudo-first order (k1: 737.1×10-6 min-1) and pseudo-second order (k2: 242.6×10-6 g.mg-1.min-1) kinetic studies confirmed the chemisorption mechanism with inner-sphere complexion. The results demonstrated the removal of phosphorus from contaminated water in the 10- 0.01 mg.L-1 range, which is below the U.S. EPA recommended maximum concentration limit.
URLs/Downloads:
DOI: Benign Zinc Oxide Betaine-Modified Biochar Nanocomposites for Phosphate Removal from Aqueous Solutions
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