Abstract
Two mesoporous biochars AC-1 and AC-2 with similar chemical properties but different mesopore size distributions were prepared to study the effect of HNO3 modification on the lead(II) adsorption. AC-2 possesses higher mesopore volume and broader pore diameter than AC-1, while their surface area and micropore volume are similar. Adsorption experiments showed that AC-2 had far better removal efficiency, indicating the important role of mesopores played in the adsorption. HNO3 modification enhanced the adsorption capacity of lead AC-1 and AC-2 by 15 and 27 mg g−1, respectively. In particular, the removal rate of lead for AC-1 was improved from 46 to 99 % by HNO3 treatment at a low initial lead concentration of 10 mg L−1. Results of Boehm’s titration demonstrated that the amounts of oxygenic acid groups of AC-1 and AC-2 increased to 2.456 and 2.705 mmol g−1 after HNO3 treatment, respectively. Analyses of FTIR spectrum revealed that AC-2 was more likely to graft oxygen-containing acidic functional groups than AC-1, indicating that higher mesoporosity takes advantage of grafting more oxygenic functional groups, thus forming more active adsorption sites. The above results indicate that mesoporous biochars with wider pore width are more favorable to be introduced with oxygenic groups for enhanced lead removal efficiency.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahmad F, Daud WMAW, Ahmad MA, Radzi R (2013) The effects of acid leaching on porosity and surface functional groups of cocoa (Theobroma cacao)-shell based activated carbon. Chem Eng Res Des 91(6):1028–1038
Bhattacharya DB, Bachas LG, Hestekin J, Richie S, Sikdar SK (1998) Novel polyglutamic acid functionalized microfiltration membranes for sorption of heavy metals at high capacity. J Membr Sci 141:121–135
Bhattacharya DB, Bachas LG, Ritchie S, Sikdar SK (2001) Polycysteine functionalized microfiltration membranes for heavy metal capture. EST 35:3252–3258
Cechinel MAP, Ulson de Souz SMAG, Ulson de Souza AA (2014) Study of lead(II) adsorption onto activated carbon originating from cow bone. J Clean Prod 65:342–349
Deng S, Zhang G, Wang X, Zheng T, Wang P (2015) Preparation and performance of polyacrylonitrile fiber functionalized with iminodiacetic acid under microwave irradiation for adsorption of Cu(II) and Hg(II). Chem Eng J 276:349–357
El Nemr A, El Sikaily A, Khaled A, Abdelwahab O (2015) Removal of toxic chromium from aqueous solution, wastewater and saline water by marine red alga Pterocladia capillacea and its activated carbon. Arab J Chem 8(1):105–117
Eldridge DS, Crawford RJ, Harding IH (2015) The role of metal ion-ligand interactions during divalent metal ion adsorption. J Colloid Interface Sci 454:20–26
El-Hendawy ANA (2003) Influence of HNO3 oxidation on the structure and adsorptive properties of corncob-based activated carbon. Carbon 41:713–722
Gupta A, Garg A (2015) Primary sewage sludge-derived activated carbon: characterisation and application in wastewater treatment. Clean Technol Environ 17(6):1619–1631
Huang Y, Li S, Chen J, Zhang X, Chen Y (2014) Adsorption of Pb(II) on mesoporous activated carbons fabricated from water hyacinth using H3PO4 activation: adsorption capacity, kinetic and isotherm studies. Appl Surf Sci 293:160–168
Jia JQ, Li KQ, Zhang YX, Qiao XD (2014) Adsorption characteristics of methylene blue onto biomass-based porous activated carbons by microwave assisted H3PO4 activation. Chin J Environ Eng 8(1):92–97 (in Chinese)
Kyzas GZ, Lazaridis NK, Deliyanni EA (2013) Oxidation time effect of activated carbon for drug adsorption. Chem Eng J 234:491–499
Li K, Yang M, Wang J (2014) Preparation of amine-modified mesoporous activated carbon and its adsorption of lead(II) from aqueous solution. Chin Environ Sci 34(8):1985–1992 (in Chinese)
Liu S, Chen X, Chen X, Liu Z, Wang H (2007) Activated carbon with excellent chromium (VI) adsorption performance prepared by acid-base surface modification. J Hazard Mater 141:315–319
Liu H, Zhang J, Bao N, Cheng C, Ren L (2012) Textural properties and surface chemistry of lotus stalk-derived activated carbons prepared using different phosphorus oxyacids: adsorption of trimethoprim. J Hazard Mater 235–236:367–375
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 95:51–59
Lu X, Jiang J, Sun K, Xie X, Hu Y (2012) Surface modification, characterization and adsorptive properties of a coconut activated carbon. Appl Surf Sci 258(20):8247–8252
Mahurin SM, Gorka J, Nelson KM, Mayes RT, Dai S (2014) Enhanced CO2/N2 selectivity in amidoxime-modified porous carbon. Carbon 67:457–464
Makkuni A, Bachas LG, Bhattacharya D, Varma RS, Sikdar SK (2005) Aqueous and vapor phase mercury sorption by inorganic oxide materials functionalized with thiols and polythiols. Clean Tsechnol Environ Policy 7:87–96
McKay G, Bino MJ, Altamemi AR (1985) The adsorption of various pollutants from aqueous solutions on to activated carbon. Water Res 19:91–495
Nabais JMV, Laginhas C, Carrott MMLR, Carrott PJM, Amorós JEC, Gisbert AVN (2013) Surface and porous characterisation of activated carbons made from a novel biomass precursor, the esparto grass. Appl Surf Sci 265:919–924
Pourreza N, Rastegarzadeh S, Larki A (2015) Nano-TiO2 modified with 2-mercaptobenzimidazole as an efficient adsorbent for removal of Ag(I) from aqueous solutions. J Ind Eng Chem 20(1):127–132
Ritchie SMC, Bachas LG, Olin T, Sikdar SK, Bhatacharya DB (1999) Surface modification of silica- and cellulose-based microfiltration membranes with functionalized polyamino acids for heavy metal sorption. Langmuir 15(19):6346–6357
Shrestha S, Son G, Lee SH, Lee TG (2013) Isotherm and thermodynamic studies of Zn(II) adsorption on lignite and coconut shell-based activated carbon fiber. Chemosphere 92:1053–1061
Smuleac V, Butterfield DA, Sikdar SK, Varma RS, Bhattacharya D (2005) Polythiol-functionalized alumina membranes for mercury capture. J Membr Sci 251:169–178
Sun X, Hwang JY, Xie S (2011) Density functional study of elemental mercury adsorption on surfactants. Fuel 90(3):1061–1068
Teng H, Hsieh CT (1998) Influence of surface characteristics on liquid-phase adsorption of phenol by activated carbons prepared from bituminous coal. Ind Eng Chem Res 37:3618–3624
Thilagavathy P, Santhi T (2014) Kinetics, isotherms and equilibrium study of Co(II) adsorption from single and binary aqueous solutions by Acacia nilotica leaf carbon. Chin J Chem Eng 22:1193–1198
Ucar S, Erdem M, Tay T, Karagoz S (2014) Removal of lead(II) and nickel(II) ions from aqueous solution using activated carbon prepared from rapeseed oil cake by Na2CO3 activation. Clean Technol Environ 17:747–756
Wang Z, Nie E, Li J, Zhao Y, Luo X, Zheng Z (2011) Carbons prepared from Spartina alterniflora and its anaerobically digested residue by H3PO4 activation: characterization and adsorption of cadmium from aqueous solutions. J Hazard Mater 188(1–3):29–36
Xu X, Liu B, Deng Z (2010) Analysis of decisive parameters in activated carbon’s adsorption of heavy metals. Energy Environ 24(2):48–50 (in Chinese)
Xu C, Liu F, Chao L, Zhu C, Li A (2013) Synthesis of polyamine chelating resins and adsorption properties toward heavy metal ions from aqueous media. Ion Exch Adsorpt 29(6):481–495 (in Chinese)
Yeh CL, Hsi HC, Li KC, Hou CH (2015) Improved performance in capacitive deionization of activated carbon electrodes with a tunable mesopore and micropore ratio. Desalination 367:60–68
Zhang X, Deng S, Liu Q, Zhang Y, Cheng L (2011) Surface functional groups and redox property of modified activated carbons. Min Sci Techol 21(2):181–184
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the research grant provided by the Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51102136), the Doctoral fund of Ministry of Education of China (No. 20110097120021), and China’s Postdoctoral Science Fund (No. 2014M560429).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Li, K., Jiang, Y., Wang, X. et al. Effect of nitric acid modification on the lead(II) adsorption of mesoporous biochars with different mesopore size distributions. Clean Techn Environ Policy 18, 797–805 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-015-1056-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-015-1056-0