Production of a bio-magnetic adsorbent via co-pyrolysis of pine wood waste and red mud

Kang Kang; Griffin Loebsack; Tahereh Sarchami; Naomi B Klinghoffer; Sadegh Papari; Ken K-C Yeung; Franco Berruti

doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2022.06.009

Production of a bio-magnetic adsorbent via co-pyrolysis of pine wood waste and red mud

Waste Manag. 2022 Jul 15:149:124-133. doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2022.06.009. Epub 2022 Jun 18.

Authors

Kang Kang¹, Griffin Loebsack², Tahereh Sarchami³, Naomi B Klinghoffer³, Sadegh Papari³, Ken K-C Yeung⁴, Franco Berruti⁵

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Chemicals and Fuels from Alternative Resources (ICFAR), Western University, London, Ontario, Canada; Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address: kknwafu@hotmail.com.
² Department of Chemistry, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.
³ Institute for Chemicals and Fuels from Alternative Resources (ICFAR), Western University, London, Ontario, Canada; Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada; Department of Biochemistry, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.
⁵ Institute for Chemicals and Fuels from Alternative Resources (ICFAR), Western University, London, Ontario, Canada; Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address: fberruti@uwo.ca.

PMID: 35728476
DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2022.06.009

Abstract

The efficient reduction of accumulated waste biomass and red mud by converting them into a value-added magnetic adsorbent is both difficult and tempting in terms of sustainability. This study focused on investigating the reaction mechanism of co-pyrolysis of different biomasses, including pine wood, cellulose, and lignin, with red mud at 500, 650, and 800 °C, and the comprehensive characterizations of the produced bio-magnetic particles. The performance of biomass and red mud based magnetic adsorbents is also evaluated, and their primary adsorption mechanisms for organic pollutants are revealed by using different organic model compounds. The samples produced at 800 °C showed the best performance. For example, the sample prepared using red mud and pine wood at 800 °C showed the highest adsorption capacity of ibuprofen, which was 21.01 mg/g at ∼pH 4.5, indicating strong π stacking interactions as the dominant adsorption mechanism. When compared to lignin-rich biomass, adsorbents composed of cellulose-rich biomass showed greater adsorption efficacy. The findings show that co-pyrolysis of biomass with red mud can reduce waste while also producing a flexible adsorbent that is magnetically separable and effective at absorbing different organic contaminants from water.

Keywords: Adsorbent; Bio-magnetic composite; Characterization; Co-pyrolysis; Reaction mechanism; Waste minimization.

MeSH terms

Adsorption
Biomass
Cellulose / analysis
Lignin / chemistry
Magnetic Phenomena
Pinus* / chemistry
Pyrolysis*
Wood / chemistry

Substances

Cellulose
Lignin