In this study, coconut shell biochar modified by KMnO4 (MCBC) was used as the adsorbent, and its removal performance and mechanism for Cd(Ⅱ) and Ni(Ⅱ) were discussed. When the initial pH and MCBC dosage were separately 5 and 3.0 g·L-1, respectively, the removal efficiencies of Cd(Ⅱ) and Ni(Ⅱ) were both higher than 99%. The removal of Cd(Ⅱ) and Ni(Ⅱ) was more in line with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model, indicating that their removal was dominated by chemisorption. The rate-controlling step for Cd(Ⅱ) and Ni(Ⅱ) removal was the fast removal stage, for which the rate depended on the liquid film diffusion and intraparticle diffusion (surface diffusion). Cd(Ⅱ) and Ni(Ⅱ) were mainly attached to the MCBC via surface adsorption and pore filling, in which the contribution of surface adsorption was greater. The maximum adsorption amounts of Cd(Ⅱ) and Ni(Ⅱ) by MCBC were individually 57.18 mg·g-1 and 23.29 mg·g-1, which were approximately 5.74 and 6.97 times that of the precursor (coconut shell biochar), respectively. The removal of Cd(Ⅱ) and Zn(Ⅱ) was spontaneous and endothermic and had obvious thermodynamic characteristics of chemisorption. Cd(Ⅱ) was attached to MCBC through ion exchange, co-precipitation, complexation reaction, and cation-π interaction, whereas Ni(Ⅱ) was removed by MCBC via ion exchange, co-precipitation, complexation reaction, and redox. Among them, co-precipitation and complexation were the main modes of surface adsorption of Cd(Ⅱ) and Ni(Ⅱ). Additionally, the proportion of amorphous Mn-O-Cd or Mn-O-Ni in the complex may have been higher. These research results will provide important technical support and theoretical basis for the practical application of commercial biochar in the treatment of heavy metal wastewater.
Keywords: Cd(Ⅱ) and Ni(Ⅱ); adsorption; coconut shell biochar(MCBC); potassium permanganate modification; removal performance and mechanism.