The application of fungicides (such as tebuconazole) can impose harmful impacts on the ecosystem and humans. In this study, a new calcium modified water hyacinth-based biochar (WHCBC) was prepared and its effectiveness for removing tebuconazole (TE) via adsorption from water was tested. The results showed that Ca was loaded chemically (CaC2O4) onto the surface of WHCBC. The adsorption capacity of the modified biochar increased by 2.5 times in comparison to that of the unmodified water hyacinth biochar. The enhanced adsorption was attributed to the improved chemical adsorption capacity of the biochar through calcium modification. The adsorption data were better fitted to the pseudo-second-order kinetics and the Langmuir isotherm model, indicating that the adsorption process was dominated by monolayer adsorption. It was found that liquid film diffusion was the main rate-limiting step in the adsorption process. The maximum adsorption capacity of WHCBC was 40.5 mg/g for TE. The results indicate that the absorption mechanisms involved surface complexation, hydrogen bonding, and π-π interactions. The inhibitory rate of Cu2+ and Ca2+ on the adsorption of TE by WHCBC were at 4.05-22.8%. In contrast, the presence of other coexisting cations (Cr6+, K+, Mg2+, Pb2+), as well as natural organic matter (humic acid), could promote the adsorption of TE by 4.45-20.9%. In addition, the regeneration rate of WHCBC was able to reach up to 83.3% after five regeneration cycles by desorption stirring with 0.2 mol/L HCl (t = 360 min). The results suggest that WHCBC has a potential in application for removing TE from water.
Keywords: adsorption; biochar; calcium modification; tebuconazole; water hyacinth.