Tailored mesoporous biochar sorbents from pinecone biomass for the adsorption of natural organic matter from lake water

Publication date: Available online 28 June 2019Source: Journal of Molecular LiquidsAuthor(s): Maryam Roza Yazdani, Nicola Duimovich, Alberto Tiraferri, Panu Laurell, Maryam Borghei, Julie B. Zimmerman, Riku VahalaAbstractNatural organic matter (NOM) raises major issues for drinking water treatment including undesirable taste and color, formation of carcinogenic disinfection by-products, and promotion of microbial regrowth in the water distribution system. As such, mesoporous biochars have been tailored from pine-forestry by-products for treating NOM and color causing compounds from drinking water sources, such as lakes. Herein, several tailored biochars are fabricated via two procedures: pre-pyrolysis/activation/post-pyrolysis and activation/post-pyrolysis processes, using NaOH and ZnCl2 activators to improve the surface chemistry and porous structure for higher NOM adsorption. The mesoporous biochars, pristine biochars, and pinecone biomass are characterized via several analysis methods including Brunauer, Emmett and Teller surface area measurement (BET), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Batch experiments are conducted to study the adsorption isotherm, kinetics and mechanism along with desorption. Characterization revealed effective characteristics of tailored biochars for NOM adsorption including mesoporous structure, remarkable surface area (up to 1470 m2/g), high thermal stability, and elevated carbon content. All the tailored bi...
Source: Journal of Molecular Liquids - Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research