Journal of Soils and Sediments

, Volume 16, Issue 8, pp 2081–2089 | Cite as

Sorption of copper(II) from synthetic oil sands process-affected water (OSPW) by pine sawdust biochars: effects of pyrolysis temperature and steam activation

  • Kangyi Lou
  • Anushka Upamali Rajapaksha
  • Yong Sik Ok
  • Scott X. Chang
Soils, Sec 3 • Remediation and Management of Contaminated or Degraded Lands • Research Article
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

Purpose

Remediate metal contamination is a fundamental step prior to reclaim oil sands tailing ponds, and copper (Cu(II)) is the most abundant metal in the tailings water or oil sands process-affected water (OSPW). Biochars produced at four pyrolysis conditions were evaluated for sorption of Cu(II) in synthetic OSPW to explore different biochar potentials in removing Cu(II) from the contaminated water.

Materials and methods

Pine sawdust biochars pyrolyzed at 300 and 550 °C with and without steam activation were investigated by batch sorption experiments. Isotherm and kinetic studies were conducted to compare the sorption capacities of the four biochars and to examine potential mechanisms involved.

Results and discussion

For all the biochars, Langmuir and pseudo-second order models were the best-fit for isotherm and kinetic studies, respectively. According to the Langmuir parameters, the maximum adsorption capacities of the biochars produced at 550 °C were around 2.5 mg Cu(II) g−1, which were 30-folds higher than those produced at 300 °C. However, steam activation did not cause any significant difference in the biochars’ sorption performance. The kinetic study suggested that chemisorption involving valence forces was the limiting factor of the sorption. In addition, ion exchange and precipitation were likely the primary mechanisms for Cu(II) sorption which outweigh complexation with functional groups on the biochars’ surface.

Conclusions

Pine sawdust biochar produced at 550 °C without steam activation could be utilized as a sustainable and cost-effective material to remove Cu(II) from the OSPW.

Keywords

Adsorption isotherm Adsorption kinetics Black carbon Metal Oil sands process-affected water Steam activation 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

This study was conducted with financial support from the Land Reclamation International Graduate School (LRIGS) that was funded by the NSERC CREATE program and the Helmholtz-Alberta Initiative at the University of Alberta.

Supplementary material

11368_2016_1382_MOESM1_ESM.docx (1.5 mb)
ESM 1 (DOCX 1500 kb)

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  • Kangyi Lou
    • 1
  • Anushka Upamali Rajapaksha
    • 2
  • Yong Sik Ok
    • 2
  • Scott X. Chang
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of Renewable ResourcesUniversity of AlbertaEdmontonCanada
  2. 2.Korea Biochar Research CenterKangwon National UniversityChuncheonSouth Korea

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