Toxic Metal Adsorption from Aqueous Solution by Activated Biochars Produced from Macadamia Nutshell Waste

Minh Trung Dao, T. T. Tram Nguyen, X. Du Nguyen, D. Duong La, D. Duc Nguyen, S. W. Chang, W. J. Chung and Nguyen Van Khanh
Additional contact information
Minh Trung Dao: Thu Dau Mot University, Thu Dau Mot City, Binh Duong Province, Vietnam
T. T. Tram Nguyen: Thu Dau Mot University, Thu Dau Mot City, Binh Duong Province, Vietnam
X. Du Nguyen: Saigon University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
D. Duong La: Laboratory of Advanced Materials Chemistry, Advanced Institute of Materials Science, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
D. Duc Nguyen: Institute of Research and Development, Duy Tan University, Da Nang 550000, Vietnam
S. W. Chang: Department of Environmental Energy Engineering, Kyonggi University, Suwon 16227, Korea
W. J. Chung: Department of Environmental Energy Engineering, Kyonggi University, Suwon 16227, Korea
Nguyen Van Khanh: Department of Microbiology, Pusan National University, Busan 46241, Korea

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 19, 1-11

Abstract: Abundantly available biomass wastes from agriculture can serve as effective environmental remediation materials. In this study, activated biochar was fabricated from macadamia nutshell (MCN) through carbonization and chemical modification. The resultant biochars were used as adsorbents to remove toxic metal ions such as Cu 2+ and Zn 2+ from aqueous solutions. The results showed that the activated MCN biochar has a high adsorption capacity for toxic metal ions. When MCN biochar was activated with K 2 CO 3 , the adsorption efficiencies for Cu 2+ and Zn 2+ were 84.02% and 53.42%, respectively. With H 3 PO 4 activation, the Cu 2+ - and Zn 2+ -adsorption performances were 95.92% and 67.41%, respectively. H 2 O 2 -modified MCN biochar had reasonable Cu 2+ - and Zn 2+ -adsorption efficiencies of 79.33% and 64.52%, respectively. The effects of pH, adsorbent concentration and adsorption time on the removal performances of Cu 2+ and Zn 2+ in aqueous solution were evaluated. The results exhibited that the activated MCN biochar showed quick adsorption ability with an optimal pH of 4 and 4.5 for both Cu 2+ and Zn 2+ , respectively.

Keywords: toxic metals removal; biochar; macadamia nutshell; adsorption; activated carbon (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/19/7909/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/19/7909/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:19:p:7909-:d:418693

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().