Preparation and Application of Wetland-Plant-Derived Biochar for Tetracycline Antibiotic Adsorption in Water

Qingyun Chen, Hao Tong, Xing Gao, Peng Li, Jiaqi Li, Haifeng Zhuang () and Suqing Wu ()
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Qingyun Chen: Key Laboratory of Recycling and Eco-Treatment of Waste Biomass of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, Hangzhou 310023, China
Hao Tong: Key Laboratory of Recycling and Eco-Treatment of Waste Biomass of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, Hangzhou 310023, China
Xing Gao: College of Life and Environmental Science, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou 325000, China
Peng Li: Key Laboratory of Recycling and Eco-Treatment of Waste Biomass of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, Hangzhou 310023, China
Jiaqi Li: Key Laboratory of Recycling and Eco-Treatment of Waste Biomass of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, Hangzhou 310023, China
Haifeng Zhuang: Key Laboratory of Recycling and Eco-Treatment of Waste Biomass of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, Hangzhou 310023, China
Suqing Wu: College of Life and Environmental Science, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou 325000, China

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 14, 1-27

Abstract: Every year, a large amount of antibiotics enter aquatic environments globally through discharging of pharmaceutical wastewater and domestic sewage, emissions from agriculture, and livestock, posing a severe threat to ecosystems and human health. Therefore, it is essential to develop efficient adsorption materials for rapid removal of antibiotics in water. In this study, abundant and renewable wetland plants (lotus leaves, Arundo donax, and canna lilies) were utilized as raw materials to prepare biochar through slow pyrolysis combined with KOH chemical activation. The prepared biochar was employed to adsorb typical tetracycline (TC) antibiotics (TC-HCl, CTC-HCl, OTC-HCl) from water. The results showed that the optimum biochar (LBC-600 (1:3)) was prepared at a pyrolysis temperature of 600 °C with the mass ratio of KOH to lotus leaf of 1:3. The optimum pH for the adsorption of the three antibiotics were 5, 4, and 3, respectively. The highest adsorption rates reached 93.32%, 81.44%, and 83.76% for TC-HCl, CTC-HCl, and OTC-HCl with 0.6 g/L of biochar, respectively. At an initial antibiotic concentration of 80 mg·L −1 , the maximum adsorption capacities achieved 40.17, 27.76, and 24.6 mg·g −1 for TC-HCl, CTC-HCl, and OTC-HCl, respectively. The adsorption process conformed to the pseudo-second-order kinetic and Langmuir isotherm models, indicating that it was a spontaneous endothermic process and primarily involved monolayer chemical adsorption. This study transformed wetland plant waste into adsorbent and applied it for antibiotic removal, providing a valuable resource utilization strategy and technical support for recycling wetland plant residues and antibiotic removal from water environments.

Keywords: wetland plants; biochar; antibiotics; adsorption mechanism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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