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Sludge-derived biochar: Physicochemical characteristics for environmental remediation
Summary
This review examines how sewage sludge can be converted into biochar, a carbon-rich material useful for cleaning up environmental contaminants including microplastics and heavy metals from water and soil. The process turns a waste product into an effective pollution filter while reducing the volume of sludge that needs disposal. This approach is relevant to microplastics research because biochar could help remove plastic particles from contaminated water and agricultural land.
The global production of fecal wastes is envisioned to reach a very high tonnage by 2030. Perilous handling and consequential exposition of human and animal fecal matter are inextricably linked with stunted growth, enteric diseases, inadequate cognitive skills, and zoonoses. Sludge treatment from sewage and water treatment processes accounts for a very high proportion of overall operational expenditure. Straightforward carbonization of sludges to generate biochar adsorbents or catalysts fosters a circular economy, curtailing sludge processing outlay. Biochars, carbonaceous substances synthesized via the thermochemical transformation of biomass, possess very high porosity, cation exchange capacity, specific surface area, and active functional sorption sites making them very effective as multifaceted adsorbents, promoting a negative carbon emission technology. By customizing the processing parameters and biomass feedstock, engineered biochars possess discrete physicochemical characteristics that engender greater efficaciousness for adsorbing various contaminants. This review provides explicit insight into the characteristics, environmental impact considerations, and SWOT analysis of different sludges (drinking water, fecal, and raw sewage sludge) and the contemporary biochar production, modification, characterization techniques, and physicochemical characteristics, factors influencing the properties of biochars derived from the aforestated sludges, along with the designing of chemical reactors involved in biochar production. This paper also manifests a state-of-the-art discussion of the utilization of sludge-derived biochars for the eviction of toxic metal ions, organic compounds, microplastics, toxic gases, vermicomposting approaches, and soil amelioration with an emphasis on biochar recyclability, reutilization, and toxicity. The practicability of scaling up biochar generation with multifaceted, application-accustomed functionalities should be explored to aggrandize socio-economic merits.