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Cadmium and lead removal by Mg/Fe bimetallic oxide-loaded sludge-derived biochar: batch adsorption, kinetics, and mechanism

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Abstract

Biochar is a valuable adsorbent for the removal of heavy metals from water, and it is important to explore ways to increase its heavy metal adsorption capacity. In this study, Mg/Fe bimetallic oxide was loaded onto sewage sludge-derived biochar to enhance its heavy metal adsorption capacity. Batch adsorption experiments for the removal of Pb(II) and Cd(II) were performed to evaluate the removal efficiency of Mg/Fe layer bimetallic oxide-loaded sludge-derived biochar ((Mg/Fe)LDO-ASB). The physicochemical properties of (Mg/Fe)LDO-ASB and corresponding adsorption mechanisms were studied. The maximum adsorption capacities of (Mg/Fe)LDO-ASB for Pb(II) and Cd(II), which were calculated by isotherm model, were 408.31 and 270.41 mg/g, respectively. Adsorption kinetics and isotherms analysis showed that the dominant adsorption process of Pb(II) and Cd(II) uptake by (Mg/Fe)LDO-ASB was spontaneous chemisorption and heterogeneous multilayer adsorption, and film diffusion was the rate-limiting step. SEM-EDS, FTIR, XRD, and XPS analyses revealed that the Pb and Cd adsorption processes of (Mg/Fe)LDO-ASB involved oxygen-containing functional group complexation, mineral precipitation, electron-π-metal interactions, and ion exchange. The order of their contribution was as follows: mineral precipitation (Pb: 87.92% and Cd: 79.91%) > ion exchange (Pb: 9.84% and Cd: 16.45%) > metal-π interaction (Pb: 0.85% and Cd: 0.73%) > oxygen-containing functional group complexation (Pb: 1.39% and Cd: 2.91%). Mineral precipitation was the main adsorption mechanism, and ion exchange played a crucial role in Pb and Cd adsorption.

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Data Availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

The financial support for this research was supported by the Scientific and Technological Innovation Guidance Projects of Zhaoqing (No. 2021040302002), the Scientific Research Fund of Zhaoqing University (No. 2018010172), and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Environmental Health and Land Resource (No. 2020B121201014).

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Author notes

  1. Jiali Zhou contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Zhaoqing University, Zhaoqing, 526061, China

    Weixiong Lin

  2. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China

    Jiali Zhou & Shuiyu Sun

  3. Guangdong Polytechnic of Environmental Protection Engineering, Foshan, 528216, China

    Shuiyu Sun

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  1. Weixiong Lin
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  2. Jiali Zhou
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design.

Dr. Weixiong Lin: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, writing—original draft and review; Jiali Zhou: formal analysis, operation; Prof. Shuiyu Sun: resources, review and editing, supervision.

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Correspondence to Weixiong Lin.

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Lin, ., Zhou, J. & Sun, S. Cadmium and lead removal by Mg/Fe bimetallic oxide-loaded sludge-derived biochar: batch adsorption, kinetics, and mechanism. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 86866–86878 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-28574-x

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