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Enhanced removal of ammonium from water by ball-milled biochar

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Abstract

Novel biochar was prepared by ball milling using bamboo as raw material. The aim of this study was to find a good alternative way to improve the potentials of biochar for ammonium adsorption from aqueous solution. The sorption performance of ball-milled bamboo biochar (BMBB) was compared with that of bamboo biochar (BB) using batch adsorption experiments. Different adsorption kinetics models proved that the pseudo-second order was the best kinetic model for explanation of the adsorption kinetics characteristics, indicative of the energetically heterogeneous solid surface of the biochar. The Langmuir model could fit the isothermal adsorption data of BMBB well. The maximum adsorption capacity of BMBB (22.9 mg g−1) was much higher than that of BB (7.0 mg g−1). This study offers a relatively cost-effective and efficient methodology for the improvement in the adsorption capacity of biochar for ammonium nitrogen.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support for this work was provided by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFC0502602), the High-Level Overseas Talent Innovation and Entrepreneurship Project of Guizhou Province [Grant No. (2018)08] and the Opening Fund of State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry (SKLEG2019704).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Appraisal Center for Ecology and Environment Engineering of Chongqing, Chongqing, 401121, China

    Yongjun Qin, Xiaolong Zhu & Qing Su

  2. State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang, 550081, China

    Abdulraheem Anumah & Bing Wang

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Abdulraheem Anumah

  4. Management and Service Center for Solid Waste of Chongqing, Chongqing, 401121, China

    Yongjun Qin & Xiaolong Zhu

  5. Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

    Bin Gao

  6. Institute of Guizhou Mountain Resources, Guizhou Academy of Sciences, Guiyang, 550001, China

    Wenqiang Lyu

  7. School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang, 550001, China

    Xue Zhou & Ying Xing

  8. Puding Karst Ecosystem Research Station, State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Puding, 562100, China

    Bing Wang

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  1. Yongjun Qin
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Qin, Y., Zhu, X., Su, Q. et al. Enhanced removal of ammonium from water by ball-milled biochar. Environ Geochem Health 42, 1579–1587 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-019-00474-5

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