High-efficiency adsorption of tetracycline by the prepared waste collagen fiber-derived porous biochar

Xinxing Wei; Renjing Zhang; Wenchao Zhang; Yue Yuan; Bo Lai

doi:10.1039/c9ra07289f

High-efficiency adsorption of tetracycline by the prepared waste collagen fiber-derived porous biochar

RSC Adv. 2019 Nov 29;9(67):39355-39366. doi: 10.1039/c9ra07289f. eCollection 2019 Nov 27.

Authors

Xinxing Wei^{1

2}, Renjing Zhang^{1

2}, Wenchao Zhang^{1

2}, Yue Yuan³, Bo Lai^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Hydraulics and Mountain River Engineering, College of Architecture and Environment, Sichuan University Chengdu 610065 China laibo@scu.edu.cn +86 15308172530 +86 15308172530.
² Sino-German Centre for Water and Health Research, Sichuan University Chengdu 610065 China.
³ Department of Biomass and Leather Engineering Chengdu 610065 China smileyuan1987@scu.edu.cn +86 18215501987 +86 18215501987.

Abstract

Porous biochar (PBC) derived from Cr-containing waste collagen fibers was prepared by two-step pyrolysis to 800 °C (PBC-800) and alkali activation. Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET) analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and zeta potential analysis were used to characterize PBC-800. Batch experiments showed that PBC-800 had an excellent removal effect on tetracycline (TC), and the maximum adsorption capacity was 593.84 mg g^-1. Meanwhile, PBC-800 was found to be suitable for a wide pH range. The isothermal adsorption and kinetic model fitting proved that the TC adsorption by PBC-800 occurred via 5 types of chemical adsorption. The main rate-limiting step was closely related to the initial concentration of TC. The total release of Cr was less than 0.05 mg L^-1, which indicated that PBC-800 was stable and did not cause serious secondary pollution. Compared to the conventional metal-free biomass, Cr in a waste collagen fiber (WCF) played an important role in carbon formation and adsorption. The excellent adsorption properties of PBC-800 indicated that it could enrich low concentrations of TC in water. Thus, WCF can be used to prepare cost-effective PBC, which supplies a new process to reuse Cr-containing waste.