Graphitic N-doped biochar for superefficient uranium recycling from nuclear wastewater

Lijun Guo; Liangqiong Peng; Jiheng Li; Wenhua Zhang; Bi Shi

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163462

Graphitic N-doped biochar for superefficient uranium recycling from nuclear wastewater

Sci Total Environ. 2023 Jul 15:882:163462. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163462. Epub 2023 Apr 15.

Authors

Lijun Guo¹, Liangqiong Peng¹, Jiheng Li¹, Wenhua Zhang², Bi Shi³

Affiliations

¹ National Engineering Laboratory for Clean Technology of Leather Manufacture, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, PR China.
² National Engineering Laboratory for Clean Technology of Leather Manufacture, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, PR China; Key Laboratory of Leather Chemistry and Engineering of Ministry of Education, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, PR China. Electronic address: zhangwh@scu.edu.cn.
³ National Engineering Laboratory for Clean Technology of Leather Manufacture, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, PR China; Key Laboratory of Leather Chemistry and Engineering of Ministry of Education, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, PR China.

PMID: 37068665
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163462

Abstract

N-doped biochar (AL-N/BC) prepared by pyrolyzing lignin in various temperatures manifested superefficient performance for uranium (U) recycling from nuclear wastewater. The optimist AL-N/BC-700 showed higher adsorption capacity of 25,000 mg/g and faster kinetics of 4100 g·min^-1·mg^-1 than the most of reported adsorbents, and excellent adsorption-desorption capability (adsorption rate > 90 % and desorption rate > 70 % after 12 cycles). Moreover, the high applicability of AL-N/BC-700 was verified by its superefficient U(VI) adsorption performance in a broad working pH range, various water matrices, and high irradiation stability. Furthermore, the adsorption mechanism discloses the significant role of graphitic N, rather than pyridinic N or pyrrolic N, for U(VI) adsorption. Overall, this work not only presents an applicable approach to alleviate the increasingly serious energy crisis via recycling U(VI) from nuclear wastewater, but also enriches the method of synthesizing N-doped materials for U(VI) adsorption.

Keywords: High adsorption capacity; Lignin; N-doped biochar; Uranium recycling.