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Iron improving bio-char derived from microalgae on removal of tetracycline from aqueous system

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Abstract

Novel magnetic carbonaceous bio-char was hydrothermal prepared from microalgae under different loadings of iron and its structures and surface chemistry were characterized with Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherm (BET). The morphology of bio-char changed from sheet to particle as iron loading increased and its surface area also increased. When 3.0 g of dried microalgae and 6.0 mmol iron salt ((NH4)2SO4·FeSO4·6H2O) were mixed and treated, the obtained bio-char possessing the highest amount of oxygen-containing functional groups resulted in the best adsorption performance on tetracycline (TC). This adsorption process was fitted to Langmuir adsorption isotherm and the maximum adsorption capacity was 95.86 mg/g, which is higher than other bio-char reported. The iron loading contributed to the higher adsorption capacity of bio-char, which may be due to three factors, the high surface area, more hydrogen bonding, and bridging effects of the structural Fe for TC. Our data suggest that bio-char may have more important role in stabilization of pollutants in the environment.

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Acknowledgements

This project was supported by the Postdoctoral Science Foundation of Central South University. For the financial support we are grateful to the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 21007014), the National Environmental Protection Public Welfare Program (no. 201009047), Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (13JJ04068) and Changsha City Science and Technology Project (K1301103-11).

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Correspondence to Liang Peng or Qingru Zeng.

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Responsible editor: Bingcai Pan

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Peng, L., Ren, Y., Gu, J. et al. Iron improving bio-char derived from microalgae on removal of tetracycline from aqueous system. Environ Sci Pollut Res 21, 7631–7640 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-2677-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-2677-2

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