Removal of arsenic, methylene blue, and phosphate by biochar/AlOOH nanocomposite

• Published in: Chemical engineering journal (Lausanne, Switzerland : 1996) Vol. 226; pp. 286 - 292
• Main Authors: Zhang, Ming, Gao, Bin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01-06-2013
• Subjects: Adsorbent; adsorbents; adsorption; AlOOH; aqueous solutions; Arsenic; Biochar; biomass; carbon; chemical engineering; Contaminants; electron microscopes; methylene blue; Nanocomposite; Nanocomposites; Nanomaterials; Nanostructure; Phosphates; pyrolysis; Sorption; sorption isotherms; Surface chemistry; X-radiation; Nanocomposite; AlOOH; Biochar; Adsorbent; Contaminants
• ISSN: 1385-8947; 1873-3212
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2013.04.077

•Biochar/AlOOH nanocomposite was produced from biomass through pyrolysis.•AlOOH particles on biochar surfaces are nanosized.•Biochar matrix is mesoporous with average pore size of 50nm.•Biochar/AlOOH nanocomposite effectively removed tested contaminants.
In this work, a biochar based composite material with AlOOH nano-flakes was fabricated from AlCl3 pretreated biomass through slow pyrolysis in a N2 environment at 600°C. Physicochemical properties of the biochar/AlOOH nanocomposite were studied systematically with several commonly used material characterization instruments, including electron microscopes and X-ray techniques. Structure and morphology analysis of the sample showed that the AlOOH particles/flakes are nanosized and uniformly grow on the carbon surface within the pores of the biochar. Laboratory batch sorption experiments were conducted to evaluate the sorption ability of the biochar/AlOOH nanocomposite to three representative aqueous contaminants: arsenic, methylene blue, and phosphate. The adsorption isotherm and adsorption kinetics data suggested that the biochar/AlOOH nanocomposite is an excellent multifunctional adsorbent that can effectively remove all these contaminants from aqueous solutions.