Oral Presentation SETAC Asia-Pacific Virtual Conference 2022

Biochar facilitated remediation of nanoplastic contaminated water:effect of pyrolysis temperature induced surface modifications (#8)

zahid ganie 1 , Gopala Krishna Darbha 1
  1. indian institute of science education and research kolkata, Mohanpur Nadia, WEST BENGAL, India

Microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) are considered to be the novel contaminants of emerging concern due to their toxic nature and the ability to act as potential carriers for co-contaminants in the environment. Hence the remediation of MPs and NPs from the environment is the need of the hour. In this study, a common agricultural waste sugarcane bagasse was converted into a useful resource by pyrolysing it and later it was utilized for the remediation of NPs from water. Different types of biochar at three different pyrolysis temperatures i.e. 350, 550 and 7500C (BC-350, BC-550 and BC-750 respectively) were synthesized and their NPs removal capacity was evaluated in water. BC-750 showed >98% removal of NPs unlike other two composites BC-350 and BC-550, which showed <25% and <45% removal respectively. Attributed to the high surface area, increased pore volume and least number of negatively charged carbonyl functional groups in BC-750, there was an efficient removal of NPs. Kinetic studies showed an instantaneous removal of NPs with an equilibration time of <5 minutes and the non-linear kinetic modelling suggested a better fit of pseudo 1st order removal kinetic model. Non-linear isotherm and thermodynamic modelling suggested sorption spontaneity and monolayer sorption with a maximum sorption capacity of 44.9 mg/g and a better fit of Langmuir isotherm model. Enhanced electrostatic repulsion between BC-750and NPs resulted in a decrease in NPs sorption at alkaline pH, whereas at higher humic acid concentrations, steric hindrances caused limited removal.  BC-750 also showed the minimal impact of competing ions on NPs sorption with complete removal in synthetic groundwater [1].

 

 

 

 

  1. [1] Z.A. Ganie, N. Khandelwal, E. Tiwari, N. Singh, G.K. Darbha, Biochar-facilitated remediation of nanoplastic contaminated water: Effect of pyrolysis temperature induced surface modifications, Journal of Hazardous Materials, 417 (2021) 126096.