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Effect of endogenetic dissolved organic matter on tetracycline adsorption by biochar

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Abstract

The endogenetic biochar–derived dissolved organic matter (BDOM) might interact with pollutants in the environment. In this study, tetracycline (TC) was selected as the representative pollutant, and corn straw biochar (pyrolyzed at 300 °C) was used as the adsorbent. Through batch experiments and microscopic characterization, the releasing kinetics of BDOM and its effect on TC adsorption on biochar were investigated. The results showed that BDOM with weaker aromaticity and higher molecular weight was preferentially released. BDOM release led to the decrease of specific surface area (from 4.02 to 1.83 m2/g), mesopore number, and aromaticity of biochar (H/C increased from 0.80 to 0.91) and consequently weakened the pore filling of TC on biochar, hydrophobic interaction, and π-π EDA (electron donor receptor) interaction between biochar and TC. In addition, the released BDOM could form a complex with TC in solution to prevent TC adsorption on biochar. Overall, the change in the structural properties of biochar caused by BDOM release had a greater impact on the inhibition of TC adsorption than that of BDOM and TC complexation in this study. Through EEM-PRARFAC, BDOM contained about 63% humic acid–like fluorescent component and 37% tryptophan-like fluorescent component; the former (logKb values were 7.31 and 6.48, respectively) had a stronger binding strength with TC than the latter (logKb was 6.45). The findings of this study could provide some useful evidence for the removal of organic pollutants in soil and water environments and biochar application in pollution remediation.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on the manuscript.

Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41877202) and the Innovative Postgraduate Research Ability Training Project (No. 2652019302).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Water Resources and Environment, MOE Key Laboratory of Groundwater Circulation and Environmental Evolution, and Beijing Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing, 100083, People’s Republic of China

    Ying Xiong & Erping Bi

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  1. Ying Xiong
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  2. Erping Bi
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Contributions

Ying Xiong: conceptualization, methodology, validation, formal analysis, investigation, writing—original draft, writing—review & editing, visualization.

Erping Bi: supervision, project administration, funding acquisition, writing—review & editing.

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Correspondence to Erping Bi.

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Responsible Editor: Tito Roberto Cadaval Jr

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Highlights

(1) Polarity and molecular size affected biochar dissolved organic matter (BDOM) release.

(2) BDOM release mainly decreased meso-pores of biochar for tetracycline (TC) filling.

(3) BDOM could inhibit TC adsorption on biochar by complexing with TC polar groups.

(4) Humic acid–like component had a stronger affinity to TC than tryptophan-like component.

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Xiong, Y., Bi, E. Effect of endogenetic dissolved organic matter on tetracycline adsorption by biochar. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 77022–77031 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-27847-9

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