Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Scavenging microplastics and heavy metals from water using jujube waste-derived biochar in fixed-bed column trials

Researchers found that biochar derived from jujube waste effectively removed over 99% of nylon and polyethylene microplastics from water in fixed-bed column trials, while also demonstrating capacity for heavy metal removal at optimal neutral pH.

2023 Environmental Pollution 55 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

Adsorption of Pyraclostrobin in Water by Bamboo-Derived and Pecan Shell-Derived Biochars

This paper is not about microplastics — it studies how biochar derived from bamboo and pecan shells can adsorb the fungicide pyraclostrobin from water, addressing agricultural chemical pollution rather than microplastics.

2023 Sustainability 12 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

Recent trends and economic significance of modified/functionalized biochars for remediation of environmental pollutants

Researchers reviewed recent advances in modified biochars — charcoal-like materials made from organic waste — as low-cost tools for removing chemical pollutants from contaminated soil and water. By altering biochar's physical and chemical properties through various treatment techniques, scientists have significantly improved its ability to bind and neutralize a wide range of harmful substances.

2024 Scientific Reports 137 citations
Article Tier 2

Optimization of Micro-Pollutants’ Removal from Wastewater Using Agricultural Waste-Derived Sustainable Adsorbent

Agricultural waste-derived biochar adsorbent was optimized for removing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from industrial wastewater, with the study presenting the first use of this specific waste-derived material to address PAH contamination in water.

2021 International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 15 citations
Article Tier 2

Recent progress in the production and application of biochar and its composite in environmental biodegradation

Researchers reviewed advances in biochar production from biomass and waste via pyrolysis, summarizing its applications in environmental remediation — particularly wastewater treatment — and identifying key knowledge gaps in degradation kinetics needed to optimize biochar's performance for pollutant removal.

2023 Bioresource Technology 42 citations
Article Tier 2

Adsorption of Pollutants from Wastewater by Biochar: A Review

This review examines how biochar, a carbon-rich material made from organic waste, can be used to remove pollutants including microplastics, heavy metals, and organic chemicals from wastewater. Biochar works by adsorbing contaminants onto its surface, and its effectiveness can be improved through chemical modifications. The technology offers a low-cost, sustainable approach to water treatment that could help reduce microplastic contamination in water supplies.

2022 Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances 218 citations
Article Tier 2

Biochar : A Review of its History, Characteristics, Factors that Influence its Yield, Methods of Production, Application in Wastewater Treatment and Recent Development

This review examines biochar's history, physicochemical properties, production methods, and applications in wastewater treatment, highlighting its high porosity and diverse functional groups that enable effective adsorption of contaminants including heavy metals and organic pollutants.

2021 Biointerface Research in Applied Chemistry 48 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

Environmental and Economic Evaluation of Biochar Application in Wastewater and Sludge Treatment

This chapter reviews how biochar — a carbon-rich material made from organic waste — can remove microplastics, heavy metals, and organic pollutants from wastewater and sludge. Biochar is presented as a cost-effective and environmentally friendly treatment option compared to conventional technologies.

2023 2 citations
Article Tier 2

The Prospect of Biochar by Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch (OPEFB) in the Removal of Contaminants Emerging Concern (CECs)

This study evaluated biochar derived from oil palm empty fruit bunches (OPEFB) as an adsorbent for removing pharmaceutical contaminants of emerging concern — particularly naproxen sodium — from wastewater, finding it to be a feasible and sustainable treatment material.

2023 BIO Web of Conferences
Article Tier 2

Functionalized Biochars for Enhanced Removal of Heavy Metals from Aqueous Solutions: Mechanism and Future Industrial Prospects

This review examined functionalized biochar materials as adsorbents for removing heavy metals from water, comparing surface modification strategies that enhance metal uptake capacity and selectivity. Functionalized biochars showed substantially improved adsorption performance over unmodified biochar and low-cost conventional materials.

2022 Journal of Human Earth and Future 46 citations
Article Tier 2

Removal of microplastics and metals in biochar beds for stormwater treatment: Effects of prolonged drying and salinity on pollutant mobility

Researchers tested biochar — a charcoal-like material made from organic waste — as a filter for removing microplastics and heavy metals from stormwater runoff, finding it retained up to 99% of microplastics but that prolonged dry periods and high salinity increased the release of metals, highlighting real-world limitations of this promising treatment approach.

2026 Environmental Challenges
Article Tier 2

Advancements in Biochar as a Sustainable Adsorbent for Water Pollution Mitigation

This review examines how biochar, a charcoal-like material made from plant waste, can remove over 80% of microplastics and nanoplastics from contaminated water, along with heavy metals and other pollutants. Advances in biochar production and machine learning optimization are making it a promising, sustainable tool for cleaning microplastic-polluted water before it reaches people.

2025 Advanced Science 52 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

Integrating biochar characterization, hyperspectral signatures, and artificial neural networks for predictive modeling of metamitron leachate attenuation

Scientists tested whether adding biochar (a charcoal-like material made from plant waste) to soil can reduce contamination from metamitron, a common pesticide that can leak into groundwater and harm human health. They found that biochar made from fruit shells worked best, reducing pesticide levels by over 90% when added to soil at higher amounts. This research could help farmers and communities use biochar as a natural way to protect drinking water from pesticide contamination.

2026 International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology
Article Tier 2

Turning trash into tools: agricultural waste-derived biochars and composites for microplastic removal from wastewater

This review examined the use of agricultural waste-derived biochars and biochar composites as sustainable sorbents for microplastic removal from wastewater. Researchers summarised how engineered biochars produced from crop residues and other agricultural biowaste can be functionalized to achieve efficient microplastic remediation, offering a circular economy approach to both waste valorisation and pollution control.

2025 RSC Sustainability
Article Tier 2

Enhancing domestic wastewater treatment: Integrating vermifiltration and biochar for heavy metal and microplastic reduction and by-product utilization

Researchers tested a wastewater treatment system combining earthworms and biochar — a carbon-rich material made by burning organic matter — and found it removed up to 88.6% of microplastics and nearly 100% of several heavy metals from domestic wastewater. The system also produced nutrient-rich organic matter as a byproduct, offering a low-cost, eco-friendly solution for water treatment and soil improvement.

2024 Case Studies in Chemical and Environmental Engineering 14 citations
Article Tier 2

A Review on Application of Biochar in the Removal of Pharmaceutical Pollutants through Adsorption and Persulfate-Based AOPs

This review examined the application of biochar for removing pharmaceutical pollutants from water through adsorption and persulfate-based advanced oxidation processes, highlighting biochar's strong adsorption capacity, low cost, and effectiveness as a catalyst for activating persulfate.

2022 Sustainability 143 citations
Article Tier 2

Removal of polystyrene microplastics using biochar-based continuous flow fixed-bed column

Scientists built a water filtration column using biochar made from banana peels that removed up to 92% of polystyrene microplastics from flowing water. The system works through a combination of adsorption, filtration, and the natural water-repelling interaction between the biochar and plastic particles. This low-cost approach using agricultural waste could offer a practical solution for removing microplastics from water in communities that lack advanced treatment infrastructure.

2024 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 41 citations
Article Tier 2

Sludge-derived biochar: A review on the influence of synthesis conditions on environmental risk reduction and removal mechanism of wastewater pollutants

This paper is not about microplastics; it reviews methods for preparing biochar from sewage sludge and its use in removing heavy metals and organic pollutants from wastewater.

2023 Archives of Environmental Protection 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Synthesis Methods, Properties, and Modifications of Biochar-Based Materials for Wastewater Treatment: A Review

This review covers biochar-based materials made from agricultural waste and their use in treating contaminated water, including their ability to remove heavy metals, organic pollutants, and emerging contaminants. While not specifically about microplastics, biochar's adsorption properties make it a promising tool for removing microplastics and the chemicals they carry from water. Low-cost water treatment materials like biochar could help reduce human exposure to microplastics, especially in communities that lack advanced treatment infrastructure.

2024 Resources 71 citations
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