Papers

20 results
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Article Tier 2

Biochar/Clay Composite Particle Immobilized Compound Bacteria: Preparation, Collaborative Degradation Performance and Environmental Tolerance

Not a microplastics paper — this study develops a biochar-clay composite material colonized by two bacterial species to remove ammonia and petroleum hydrocarbons from contaminated surface water, finding the combined system outperforms single-bacteria approaches.

2023 Water 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Recent advances in biochar technology for aquatic pollution control: a critical review of applications, barriers, and future opportunities

Researchers reviewed two decades of research on biochar — a charcoal-like material made from organic waste — as a low-cost tool for removing pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, microplastics, and nutrients from water, achieving up to 80% pollutant removal. While promising, challenges in regeneration and scaling up production remain barriers to widespread use.

2025 Discover Sustainability 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Emerging contaminants in polluted waters: Harnessing Biochar's potential for effective treatment

This review explores how biochar, a carbon-rich material made from organic waste, can be used to remove a wide range of pollutants from contaminated water, including microplastics, heavy metals, antibiotics, and PFAS. Biochar works through multiple mechanisms like adsorption, electrostatic interactions, and chemical bonding, and can be enhanced through surface modifications. The study highlights biochar as a low-cost, adaptable tool for addressing emerging water contaminants.

2024 Journal of Environmental Management 24 citations
Article Tier 2

Remediation of emerging pollutants using biochar derived from aquatic biomass for sustainable waste and pollution management: a review

This review evaluates the use of biochar made from aquatic biomass, such as algae and aquatic plants, for removing emerging pollutants like pharmaceuticals and microplastics from contaminated environments. Researchers found that aquatic biomass-derived biochar can be an effective and low-cost adsorbent for a variety of pollutants. The study highlights the dual benefit of managing aquatic waste while creating useful materials for environmental cleanup.

2023 Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology 29 citations
Article Tier 2

Removal of Co-Occurring Microplastics and Metals in an Aqueous System by Pristine and Magnetised Larch Biochar

Researchers tested pristine and modified biochar for simultaneous removal of co-occurring microplastics and heavy metals from water, finding that biochar surface modifications improved adsorption of both contaminant classes, offering a promising dual-removal treatment strategy.

2025 Microplastics
Article Tier 2

Efficient removal of nanoplastics by iron-modified biochar: Understanding the removal mechanisms

Researchers created iron-modified biochar from green algae waste to remove nanoplastics from water. The modified biochar achieved a removal capacity three times higher than unmodified biochar, reaching up to 1,626 milligrams per gram, through a two-phase process of adsorption followed by aggregation. The study suggests this material could be recycled and reused at least three times, offering a practical approach to nanoplastic remediation.

2024 Environmental Pollution 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Biochar Application for Mitigation of Coastal and Marine Pollution

Researchers investigated biochar as a technology for reducing microplastic contamination in coastal and marine environments, conducting experimental and computational modeling studies to assess the adsorption performance of biochar -- particularly algal waste-derived biochar -- in removing microplastics from wastewater discharge before it reaches marine ecosystems.

2025
Article Tier 2

AI-driven biochar engineering for emerging pollutants removal from water: performance, mechanisms, and environmental perspectives

Researchers reviewed how biochar — a charcoal-like material made from organic waste — can be engineered at different levels of complexity, from raw biochar to AI-optimized advanced composites, to remove emerging pollutants like pharmaceuticals, PFAS, and micro- and nanoplastics from water. The review advocates for using AI to guide material design and prioritizing simpler, more sustainable biochar forms unless more advanced composites are truly necessary.

2026 Biochar
Article Tier 2

Mechanistic insights to sorptive removal of four sulfonamide antibiotics from water using magnetite-functionalized biochar

This paper is not about microplastics. It investigates how magnetite-functionalized biochar removes sulfonamide antibiotics from water, finding that hydrogen bonding is the primary mechanism of adsorption and that the material's oxygen-containing surface groups drive removal efficiency. The study focuses on antibiotic water contamination remediation rather than microplastic pollution.

2023 Biochar 16 citations
Article Tier 2

Advancing microplastics remediation in bioretention systems using biochar/kaolin: Optimizing organics removal, plant health, and microbial community dynamics

Researchers tested biochar, kaolin, and a combined kaolin-biochar composite in stormwater filtration columns and found the composite removed up to 97% of microplastics while also improving removal of organic pollutants and supporting beneficial soil bacteria. Adding plants to the system further boosted microplastic capture, pointing toward affordable, nature-friendly water treatment upgrades.

2024 Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology 7 citations
Article Tier 2

A brief review on utilizing natural adsorbents for microplastic removal from wastewater: A sustainable approach to environmental protection

Researchers reviewed natural materials like biochar, clay, algae, and agricultural waste as affordable alternatives to synthetic filters for removing microplastics from wastewater, finding some achieved over 80% removal efficiency in the lab, though scaling these methods to real-world treatment systems remains a significant challenge.

2025 Results in Engineering 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Biochar-layered double hydroxide composites for the adsorption of tetracycline from water. Synthesis, Process Modeling and Mechanism

Researchers developed biochar-layered double hydroxide composites to remove the antibiotic tetracycline from water, finding high adsorption efficiency through multiple interaction mechanisms. This material offers a promising approach to cleaning pharmaceutical contaminants from wastewater.

2023 Research Square (Research Square) 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Properties and Possibilities of Using Biochar Composites Made on the Basis of Biomass and Waste Residues Ferryferrohydrosol Sorbent

Not relevant to microplastics — this is a materials science study on iron-enriched biochar composites made from waste biomass, evaluated for their ability to remove dyes, pharmaceuticals, and heavy metals from water via adsorption.

2024 Materials 3 citations
Article Tier 2

The Use of Biochar for Removal of Emerging Contaminants in Contaminated Water

This literature review examined 15 studies on biochar for removing emerging contaminants from water and effluents, finding that biochar made from waste raw materials is a low-cost, efficient, and scalable adsorbent for various pollutants. The review is relevant to microplastic research as biochar has potential as a treatment material for water contaminated with emerging contaminants co-occurring with microplastics.

2023 Journal of Interdisciplinary Debates
Article Tier 2

Highly Efficient Adsorption of Norfloxacin by Low-Cost Biochar: Performance, Mechanisms, and Machine Learning-Assisted Understanding

Researchers produced biochar from medicinal plant residue using potassium carbonate activation and demonstrated its effectiveness in removing the antibiotic norfloxacin from wastewater. The biochar achieved a high surface area and strong adsorption performance through multiple binding mechanisms including hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactions. The study also employed machine learning to predict adsorption outcomes, offering a cost-effective approach to treating pharmaceutical contamination in water.

2024 ACS Omega 14 citations
Article Tier 2

A review of prospects and current scenarios of biomass co-pyrolysis for water treatment

This review examines biomass co-pyrolysis as a strategy to produce enhanced biochars for water treatment, finding that combining different biomass feedstocks can improve biochar surface area and porosity, making the resulting materials more effective adsorbents for removing contaminants including microplastics.

2022 Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery 29 citations
Article Tier 2

Biochar for the Removal of Emerging Pollutants from Aquatic Systems: A Review

This review examines the use of biochar, a carbon-rich material produced from biomass, for removing emerging pollutants from water systems. Researchers analyzed how different biochar types and pollutant characteristics affect removal efficiency, along with the underlying adsorption mechanisms. The study highlights biochar as a promising and cost-effective tool for water remediation while noting the need for further research on potential risks of its use.

2023 International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 106 citations
Article Tier 2

Clean water production from plastic and heavy metal contaminated waters using redox-sensitive iron nanoparticle-loaded biochar

Researchers developed a biochar material loaded with iron nanoparticles that can simultaneously remove nanoplastics and heavy metal ions from contaminated water. The material achieved over 90 percent removal across a range of water conditions and worked effectively in both batch and continuous-flow tests. The study presents a practical, low-cost approach for cleaning up water polluted with both plastic particles and toxic metals.

2023 Environmental Research 22 citations
Article Tier 2

Insights into enhancing microplastics adsorption of sludge-based biochar by APTES grafting: Combining individual binding and aggregation confinement

Sludge-based biochar was found to enhance the adsorption capacity for microplastics when its surface was optimized through activation treatments, improving removal efficiency in water treatment. The research supports using biochar derived from wastewater byproducts as a circular solution for capturing microplastics.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Recent advances in biochar-mediated mitigation of microplastics: A comprehensive review on removal mechanisms, toxicity alleviation strategies, and synergistic environmental impacts

Researchers comprehensively reviewed recent advances in using biochar to mitigate microplastic pollution, including removal mechanisms, toxicity alleviation strategies, and synergistic environmental impacts. The study found that biochar is a promising candidate for microplastic removal and toxicity reduction due to its high specific surface area and adsorptive properties.

2026 Environmental Pollution