Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Fabrication and characterization of a hierarchical porous carbon from corn straw–derived hydrochar for atrazine removal: efficiency and interface mechanisms

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Environmental Science and Pollution Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The excellent hierarchical porous carbon was fabricated from corn straw–derived hydrochar by chemical activation using potassium oxalate (K2C2O4). SEM, BET, XPS, XRD, and Raman analysis were carried out for the characterization of the as-obtained samples. The morphology of the as-obtained porous carbon with hierarchical porous structures is made up of a large number of nano-particle aggregates and some nanosheet-like structures, possessing a super-large specific surface area (SSA, up to 2523 m2 g−1) with a large total pore volume of 1.464 cm3 g−1. The as-fabricated carbon material rapidly removes atrazine in the first 3 h at the initial concentration of 20 mg L−1 with an adsorption efficiency of 93.6%, which is faster and better than other representative materials reported previously. The acidic conditions are favorable for the atrazine adsorption onto the porous carbon. An efficient adsorbent was fabricated for environmental remediation, and in-depth insights into the interface mechanism between hierarchical porous carbon and atrazine are proposed. In addition, 95% of the adsorption capacity of MPC-1:3 can be recovered by simple annealing treatment.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Claver A, Ormad P, Rodríguez L, Ovelleiro JL (2006) Study of the presence of pesticides in surface waters in the Ebro river basin (Spain). Chemosphere 64(9):1437–1443

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Danish M, Ahmad T (2018) A review on utilization of wood biomass as a sustainable precursor for activated carbon production and application. Renew Sust Energ Rev 87:1–21

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dollimore D, Griffiths DL (1970) Differential thermal analysis study of various oxalates in oxygen and nitrogen. J Therm Anal 2:229–250

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Freundlich, HMF (1906) Over the adsorption in solution. J. Phys. Chem. 57:385–470

  • Fechler N, Fellinger TP, Antonietti M (2013) “Salt templating”: a simple and sustainable pathway toward highly porous functional carbons from ionic liquids. Adv Mater 25(1):75–79

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Guardia L, Suárez L, Querejeta N, Pevida C, Centeno TA (2018) Winery wastes as precursors of sustainable porous carbons for environmental applications. J Clean Prod 193:614–624

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hayashi JI, Horikawa T, Takeda I, Muroyama K, Ani FN (2002) Preparing activated carbon from various nutshells by chemical activation with KCO. Carbon 40(13):2381–2386

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ho YS, McKay G (1999) Pseudo-second order model for sorption processes. Process Biochem 34:451–465. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0032-9592(98)00112-5

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jiang D, Xiong TY, Fan X, Li MM, Han CL, Gong YT, Wang HY, Yong W (2015) Inspired by bread leavening: one-pot synthesis of hierarchically porous carbon for supercapacitors. Green Chem 17(7):4053–4060

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jung C, Heo J, Han J, Her N, Lee SJ, Oh J, Ryu J, Yoon Y (2013) Hexavalent chromium removal by various adsorbents: powdered activated carbon, chitosan, and single/multi-walled carbon nanotubes. Sep Purif Technol 106(6):63–71

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kim C, Kim K, Moon JH (2017) Highly N-doped microporous carbon nanospheres with high energy storage and conversion efficiency. Sci Rep 7:7. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-14686-1

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Langmuir I (1918) The adsorption of gases on plane surfaces of glass, mica and platinum. J Am Chem Soc 40:1361–1403. https://doi.org/10.1021/ja02242a004

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li L, Quinlivan PA, Knappe DRU (2002) Effects of activated carbon surface chemistry and pore structure on the adsorption of organic contaminants from aqueous solution. Carbon 40(12):2085–2100

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liu WJ, Zeng FX, Jiang H, Zhang XS (2011) Preparation of high adsorption capacity bio-chars from waste biomass. Bioresour Technol 102(17):8247–8252

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liu N, Charrua AB, Weng CH, Yuan X, Ding F (2015) Characterization of biochars derived from agriculture wastes and their adsorptive removal of atrazine from aqueous solution: a comparative study. Bioresour Technol 198:55–62

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lladó J, Lao-Luque C, Ruiz B, Fuente E, Solé-Sardans M, Dorado AD (2015) Role of activated carbon properties in atrazine and paracetamol adsorption equilibrium and kinetics. Process Saf Environ Prot 95:51–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loos R, Locoro G, Comero S, Contini S, Schwesig D, Werres F, Balsaa P, Gans O, Weiss S, Blaha L (2010) Pan-European survey on the occurrence of selected polar organic persistent pollutants in ground water. Water Res 44(14):4115–4126

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Luo W, Yang C, He H, Zeng G, Yan S, Cheng Y (2014) Novel two-stage vertical flow biofilter system for efficient treatment of decentralized domestic wastewater. Ecol Eng 64(11):415–423

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Min KK, Sundaram KS, Iyengar GA, Lee KP (2015) A novel chitosan functional gel included with multiwall carbon nanotube and substituted polyaniline as adsorbent for efficient removal of chromium ion. Chem Eng J 267:51–64

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naushad M, Ahamad T, Sharma G, Al-Muhtaseb AAH, Albadarin AB, Alam MM et al (2016) Synthesis and characterization of a new starch/SnO2 nanocomposite for efficient adsorption of toxic Hg2+ metal ion. Chem Eng J 300:306–316

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pampel J, Fellinger TP (2016) Opening of bottleneck pores for the improvement of nitrogen doped carbon electrocatalysts. Adv Energy Mater 6:6. https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201502389

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pampel J, Denton C, Fellinger TP (2016) Glucose derived ionothermal carbons with tailor-made porosity. Carbon 107:288–296

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Quan H, Fan X, Wang W, Gao W, Dong Y, Chen D (2018) Hierarchically porous carbon derived from biomass: effect of mesopore and heteroatom-doping on electrochemical performance. Appl Surf Sci 460:8–16

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Renner R (2002) Atrazine linked to endocrine disruption in frogs. Environ Sci Technol 36(3):55A–56A

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ronka S, Kujawska M, Juśkiewicz H (2014) Triazines removal by selective polymeric adsorbent. Pure Appl Chem 86(11):1755–1769

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Senthil KP, Sivaranjanee R, Sundar RP, Saravanan A (2018) Carbon sphere: synthesis, characterization and elimination of toxic Cr(VI) ions from aquatic system. J Ind Eng Chem 60:307–320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sevilla M, Fuertes AB (2009) The production of carbon materials by hydrothermal carbonization of cellulose. Carbon 47(9):2281–2289

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sevilla M, Fuertes AB (2016) A green approach to high-performance supercapacitor electrodes: the chemical activation of hydrochar with potassium bicarbonate. ChemSusChem 9(14):1880–1888

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sevilla M, Ferrero GA, Fuertes AB (2017) Beyond KOH activation for the synthesis of superactivated carbons from hydrochar. Carbon 114:50–58

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sun J, Lian F, Liu Z, Zhu L, Song Z (2014) Biochars derived from various crop straws: characterization and Cd(II) removal potential. Ecotoxicol Environ Saf 106:226–231

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sun J, Wu L, Li Y (2017) Removal of lead ions from polyether sulfone/Pb(II)-imprinted multi-walled carbon nanotubes mixed matrix membrane. J Taiwan Inst Chem E 78:219–229

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tan G, Sun W, Xu Y, Wang H, Xu N (2016) Sorption of mercury (II) and atrazine by biochar, modified biochars and biochar based activated carbon in aqueous solution. Bioresour Technol 211:727–735

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang P, Yin Y, Guo Y, Wang C (2016) Preponderant Adsorption for chlorpyrifos over atrazine by wheat straw-derived biochar: experimental and theoretical studies. RSC Adv 6(13):10615–10624

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wei Z, Guo M, Chow T, Bennett DN, Rajagopalan N (2010) Sorption properties of greenwaste biochar for two triazine pesticides. J Hazard Mater 181:121–126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wei X, Wu Z, Wu Z, Ye BC (2018) Adsorption behaviors of atrazine and Cr(III) onto different activated carbons in single and co-solute systems. Powder Technol 329:207–216

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wu X, Jiang L, Long C, Fan Z (2015) From flour to honeycomb-like carbon foam: carbon makes room for high energy density supercapacitors. Nano Energy 13:527–536

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yang F, Sun L, Xie W, Jiang Q, Gao Y, Zhang W, Zhang Y (2017a) Nitrogen-functionalization biochars derived from wheat straws via molten salt synthesis: an efficient adsorbent for atrazine removal. Sci Total Environ 607-608:1391–1399

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yang F, Sun L, Zhang W, Zhang Y (2017b) One-pot synthesis of porous carbon foam derived from corn straw: atrazine adsorption equilibrium and kinetics. Environ Sci Nano 4(3):625–635

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yang F, Jiang Q, Zhu M, Zhao L, Zhang Y (2017c) Effects of biochars and MWNTs on biodegradation behavior of atrazine by Acinetobacter lwoffii DNS32. Sci Total Environ 577:54–60

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Y, Jiang Q, Xie W, Wang Y, Kang J (2019) Effects of temperature, time and acidity of hydrothermal carbonization on the hydrochar properties and nitrogen recovery from corn stover. Biomass Bioenergy 122:175–182

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao L, Yang F, Jiang Q, Zhu M, Jiang Z, Tang Y, Zhang Y (2017) Characterization of modified biochars prepared at low pyrolysis temperature as an efficient adsorbent for atrazine removal. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25(12):1–13

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhou J, Chen H, Huang W, Arocena JM, Ge S (2016) Sorption of atrazine, 17α-estradiol, and phenanthrene on wheat straw and peanut shell biochars. Water Air Soil Pollut 227(1):7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou L, Zhang G, Wang M, Wang D, Cai D, Wu Z (2017) Efficient removal of hexavalent chromium from water and soil using magnetic ceramsite coated by functionalized nano carbon spheres. Chem Eng J 334:400–409

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This research was supported by the National Key R & D Project (2016YFD0800201), the special project to guide the development of local science and technology by the central government (ZY18A05), the National Natural Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (41625002), the Second Batch of National “10,000 Person Plan” in 2016, the MOA Modern Agricultural Talents Support Project, Application Technology Research and Development Projects of Harbin (2016RAXXJ103), the National Key R & D Project (2017YFD0801103), and Heilongjiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil Protection and Remediation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Resources & Environment, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, 150030, China

    Qun Jiang, Yifan Wang, Yan Gao & Ying Zhang

Authors
  1. Qun Jiang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yifan Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Yan Gao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ying Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ying Zhang.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Tito Roberto Cadaval Jr

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

ESM 1

(DOC 91 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Jiang, Q., Wang, Y., Gao, Y. et al. Fabrication and characterization of a hierarchical porous carbon from corn straw–derived hydrochar for atrazine removal: efficiency and interface mechanisms. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 30268–30278 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06174-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06174-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation