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Nitrogen self-doped layered porous Myriophyllum aquaticum biomass–derived biochar activated persulfate to efficiently degrade printing and dyeing wastewater

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Abstract

Biochar doped with heteroatom-like nitrogen could significantly improve its performance in several environmental applications. However, the preparation requires an additional nitrogen source, which influences its cost-effectiveness and impedes the practical applications. In the present study, the nitrogen self-doped biochar was prepared by using Foxtail algae (Myriophyllum aquaticum), which is a typical N-rich wetland plant as the raw material, without any modifications. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray electron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to characterize the morphology and crystal structure of the material. The biochar prepared at 800 °C (MBC800) was found to have a better porous structure, large specific area (1069.08 m2g−1), and more elemental N (3.11%). Furthermore, the MBC800 was used in the persulfate-activated degradation of Acid Orange 7 (AO7; 400 mgL−1), and about 97.42% of the removal rate was observed within 60 min when the MBC800 and PS dosages (MBC800/PS) were at 0.25 gL−1 and 4 gL−1 respectively. The radical trapping results indicated that amongst the free radicals (–OH•, SO4•–, O2•–) and non-radicals (1O2), the surface-bound hydroxyl radical (–OH•) of biochar played an important role, and the non-radical singlet oxygen (1O2) played a dominant role during the AO7degradation. The study namely provides a new way for the exploitation and utilization of Foxtail algae in preparing nitrogen-doped biochar for several environmental remediation applications.

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Funding

The authors received financial support provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 51,978,001; the Collaborative Innovation Project of Anhui Universities and Colleges (GXXT-2021-057); the Open Fund of Clean Catalysis Engineering Laboratory of Anhui Province (LCCE-04); and the School-level Scientific Research Project of Anhui University of Engineering (Xjky2022170).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Anhui Polytechnic University, Wuhu, 241000, China

    Xiaofan Yang, Du Siyu, Jiaxu Huo, Saraschandra Naraginti, Meiqing Zhu, Ran Hong, Xiaoying Zhang, Xueyu Wei & Xiaoping Xu

  2. Anhui Youhuan Environmental Protection Equipment Manufacturing Co., Ltd, Wuhu, 241000, China

    Guanghui Xie

  3. Anhui Landing Environmental Protection Energy Technology Co., Ltd, Hefei, 230000, China

    Xiang Sun

  4. Center for Global Health Research, Saveetha School of Engineering, Saveetha Medical College and Hospitals, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences (SIMTS), Chennai, 602105, Tamil Nadu, India

    Kuppusamy Sathishkumar

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  1. Xiaofan Yang
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Contributions

Conceptualization and original draft writing: Xiaofan Yang; conducted experiments and writing: Jiaxu Huo; formal analysis: Siyu Du; formal analysis, writing—review and editing: Saraschandra Naraginti; writing—review and editing: Meiqing Zhu; writing—review: Ran Hong; editing: Xiaoying Zhang; writing—review and editing: Xueyu Wei; writing—review and editing: Xiaoping Xu; editing: Guanghui Xie; editing: Xiang Sun; editing: Kuppusamy Sathishkumar.

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Correspondence to Xiaofan Yang.

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Yang, X., Siyu, D., Huo, J. et al. Nitrogen self-doped layered porous Myriophyllum aquaticum biomass–derived biochar activated persulfate to efficiently degrade printing and dyeing wastewater. Biomass Conv. Bioref. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-024-05719-7

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