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Preparation of N-doped porous biochar with high specific surface area and its efficient adsorption for mercury ion from aqueous solution

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Abstract

Herein, a new type of super active nitrogen-doped biochar sheet (SNBC) was prepared by two-step pyrolysis and KOH chemical activation with melamine and cherry kernel powder as precursors of nitrogen and carbon source for removing Hg2+ from wastewater. The N2 adsorption/desorption and scanning electron microscope characterization revealed that the resulted SNBC under 600 °C calcination owned huge specific surface area of 2828 m2/g and plenty of well-developed micropores, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy analysis testified the existence of functional groups containing N and O, which could provide adsorption sites for Hg2+. The SNBC-600 showed high adsorption capacity for Hg2+ even at low pH, and interfering cations had little effect on the adsorption. The adsorption process was rapid and dynamic data fit the pseudo-second-order dynamic model well. The maximum adsorption capacity of Hg2+ on SNBC-600 calculated by Langmuir model was 230 mg/g. After six times of reuse, the adsorption capacity still exceeded 200 mg/g, exhibiting good reusability. The designed microfiltration membrane device base on SNBC-600 could remove low concentration of Hg2+ effectively from solution. This study provided a simple and environment-friendly method for manufacturing nitrogen-doped biochar sheet, which was of great significance in the practical application of Hg2+ pollution treatment.

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The data and materials that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

This study was co-supported by the Science and Technology Innovation Development Program of Yantai (2022XDRH009, 2023ZLYJ118) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21207059).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Institute of Environmental Science, Ludong University, Yantai, 264025, Shandong Province, China

    Zengrun Xie, Lixiang Sun, Shengxiao Zhang, Chenyu Du & Caijuan Zhong

  2. Environmental Monitor Station of Yantai, No. 118, Qingnian South Road, Yantai, 264000, Shandong Province, China

    Yuanyuan Zhang & Yinghong Zhang

  3. Division of Science and Technology, Ludong University, Yantai, 264025, Shandong Province, China

    Zhiling Li

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  1. Zengrun Xie
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  2. Yuanyuan Zhang
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  3. Yinghong Zhang
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  4. Zhiling Li
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  5. Lixiang Sun
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  6. Shengxiao Zhang
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  7. Chenyu Du
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  8. Caijuan Zhong
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design.

Zengrun Xie: data curation, writing-original draft preparation. Yuanyuan Zhang: methodology, visualization. Yinghong Zhang: formal analysis. Zhiling Li: supervision, project administration. Lixiang Sun: software. Shengxiao Zhang: conceptualization, resources, funding acquisition, validation. Chenyu Du: writing-reviewing and editing. Caijuan Zhong: investigation.

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Correspondence to Shengxiao Zhang.

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Xie, Z., Zhang, Y., Zhang, Y. et al. Preparation of N-doped porous biochar with high specific surface area and its efficient adsorption for mercury ion from aqueous solution. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 122121–122135 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-31026-1

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