Abstract
The incorporation of ZnO into biochar has become a promising way to obtain adsorbents with enhanced adsorption capacity. In this study, a low-cost ZnO-sludge biochar composite (ZBC) was prepared by a simply in situ method using sewage sludge biochar (SBC) and zinc acetate, as well as employed for Cr(VI) adsorption in water. The results of XPS and FT-IR suggested that the ZBC surface had more functional groups such as –COOH, –OH, –C–O, ZnO, etc. Compared with SBC, the BET-specific surface area of the ZBC increased from 8.82 to 41.24 m2·g−1, which provides potential advantages for Cr(VI) uptake. Benefiting from ZnO incorporation, about an 18% increase in Cr(VI) removal efficiency was obtained. The maximum removal efficiency and equilibrium adsorption amount of ZBC for Cr(VI) reached 98.4% and 33.87 mg·g−1, respectively. The adsorption was spontaneous and endothermic nature, and coincided nicely with pseudo-second-order kinetics and Langmuir isotherm. The analyses indicated that Cr(VI) removal by ZBC was predominantly via electrostatic attraction, surface complexation, ion exchange, and reduction. This study provided valuable insights into the problem of sludge disposal and provided a new and effective method for Cr(VI) removal.
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This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21607097), the Key Research and Development Program of Shaanxi Province (2020ZDLGY13-11), and the doctoral fund of Shaanxi University of Science and Technology (2017BJ-24).
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Hao Feng processed the data and wrote the original manuscript. Xia Zhao designed the research. Pengju Jia confirmed all calculations and figures in the manuscript. Qiufeng An visualized the results. Minghua Ma provided the tested sample. All authors contributed to editing the manuscript.
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Zhao, X., Feng, H., Jia, P. et al. Removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous solution by a novel ZnO-sludge biochar composite. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 83045–83059 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-21616-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-21616-w