Skip to main content
Log in

Phosphate adsorption performance and mechanisms by nanoporous biochar–iron oxides from aqueous solutions

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Environmental Science and Pollution Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

To evaluate the adsorption mechanism and performance of phosphate onto the composite of low-cost biochar and iron oxide, four biochar–iron oxides, namely biochar–magnetite (BC-M), biochar–ferrihydrite (BC-F), biochar–goethite (BC-G), and biochar–hematite (BC-H), were prepared by fabricating iron oxide to porous biochar. The biochar–iron oxides had huge surface areas of 691–864 m2/g and average pore diameters of 3.4–4.0 nm. Based on the characterization analysis of FTIR, XRD, XPS, and zeta potential, the interactions of electrostatic attraction, ligand exchange, and deposition dominated the phosphate adsorption onto biochar–iron oxides. The maximum adsorption capacity of phosphate followed the order of BC-G > BC-F > BC-H > BC-M. The isotherm data of BC-M and BC-H were well fitted by the Langmuir and Freundlich models, while those of BC-G and BC-F followed the Langmuir model. In addition, BC-M, BC-F, BC-G, and BC-H owned excellent regeneration ability and adsorption performance in practical (simulated) wastewater environment. Then the biochar–iron oxides exerted extensive and satisfactory prospect in wastewater remediation and recycling application in soil.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

Download references

Funding

This work was funded by the Natural Science Foundation of China (21577048).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Liangguo Yan.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Zhihong Xu

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

ESM 1

(DOC 3630 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhang, Z., Yu, H., Zhu, R. et al. Phosphate adsorption performance and mechanisms by nanoporous biochar–iron oxides from aqueous solutions. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 28132–28145 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09166-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09166-5

Keywords

Navigation