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Preparation and application of metal-modified biochar in the purification of micro-polystyrene polluted aqueous environment

Journal of Environmental Management 2023 49 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 60 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.

Longfei Zhang, Yuhuan Liu, Yunpu Wang, Roger Ruan, Yunpu Wang, Qi Zhang Yuhuan Liu, Yunpu Wang, Yunpu Wang, Qi Zhang Roger Ruan, Yunpu Wang, Yunpu Wang, Xian Cui, Yunpu Wang, Xian Cui, Roger Ruan, Xian Cui, Yuhuan Liu, Yuhuan Liu, Xian Cui, Roger Ruan, Leipeng Cao, Xiaodan Wu, Roger Ruan, Yuhuan Liu, Xian Cui, Leipeng Cao, Xiaodan Wu, Lantian Zhao, Roger Ruan, Lantian Zhao, Hongli Zheng, Hongli Zheng, Qi Zhang

Summary

Researchers developed iron-modified biochar, a charcoal-like material, that can remove over 96% of polystyrene microplastics from water under controlled lab conditions. The material worked well in tap water and lake water but was less effective in heavily polluted water with high levels of organic matter. This type of low-cost water treatment technology could help reduce the amount of microplastics in drinking water, though more work is needed to apply it at larger scales.

Polymers

Study Type Environmental

Microplastics (MPs) have already spread across the globe and have been found in drinking water and human tissues. This may pose severe threats to human health and water environment. Therefore, this study accurately evaluated the removal effect of metal-modified biochar on polystyrene microplastics (PS-MPs) (1.0 μm) in the water environment using a high-throughput fluorescence quantification method. The results indicated that Fe-modified biochar (FeBC) and Fe/Zn-modified biochar (Fe/ZnBC) had good removal efficiencies for PS-MPs under the dosage of 3 g/L, which were 96.24% and 84.77%, respectively. Although pore effects were observed (such as "stuck", "trapped"), the electrostatic interaction was considered the main mechanism for the adsorption of PS-MPs on metal-modified biochar, whereas the formation of metal-O-PS-MPs may also contribute to the adsorption process. The removal efficiency of PS-MPs by FeBC was significantly reduced under alkaline conditions (pH = 9 and 11) or in the presence of weak acid ions (PO, CO, HCO). A removal efficiency of 72.39% and 78.33% of PS-MPs was achieved from tap water (TW) and lake water (LW) using FeBC when the initial concentration was 20 mg/L. However, FeBC had no removal effect on PS-MPs in biogas slurry (BS) and brewing wastewater (BW) due to the direct competitive adsorption of high concentrations of chemical oxygen demand (COD). The findings of this study highlighted that metal-modified biochar had a potential application in purifying tap water or lake water which contaminated by MPs.

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