Self-activation of potassium/iron citrate-assisted production of porous carbon/porous biochar composites from macroalgae for high-performance sorption of sulfamethoxazole

Jiacheng Qin; Rongting Ji; Qian Sun; Wei Li; Hu Cheng; Jiangang Han; Xin Jiang; Yang Song; Jianming Xue

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2022.128361

Self-activation of potassium/iron citrate-assisted production of porous carbon/porous biochar composites from macroalgae for high-performance sorption of sulfamethoxazole

Bioresour Technol. 2023 Feb:369:128361. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2022.128361. Epub 2022 Nov 21.

Authors

Jiacheng Qin¹, Rongting Ji², Qian Sun³, Wei Li⁴, Hu Cheng⁵, Jiangang Han⁴, Xin Jiang⁶, Yang Song⁶, Jianming Xue⁷

Affiliations

¹ Co-Innovation Center for the Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, PR China.
² Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Nanjing 210042, PR China.
³ College of Agricultural Science and Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, PR China; CAS Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, PR China.
⁴ Co-Innovation Center for the Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, PR China; National Positioning Observation Station of Hung-the Lake Wetland Ecosystem, Huaian 223100, PR China.
⁵ Co-Innovation Center for the Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, PR China; National Positioning Observation Station of Hung-the Lake Wetland Ecosystem, Huaian 223100, PR China. Electronic address: ysssn1416@163.com.
⁶ CAS Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, PR China.
⁷ Co-Innovation Center for the Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, PR China; New Zealand Forest Research Institute (Scion), Christchurch 8440, New Zealand.

PMID: 36423753
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2022.128361

Abstract

Excellent biochar properties are crucial for sorption performance, and a developed pore structure is especially important. Herein, novel porous carbon/porous biochar (PC/PB) composites, in which the porous biochar and porous carbon were prepared at the same time, were synthesized via a green method from algal biomass with the help of the self-activation of citrate for the first time, and the composites were evaluated for the sorption of sulfamethoxazole (SMX). Many micro/meso/macropores were introduced into the PC/PB composites, which showed high specific surface areas (up to 1415 m²/g) and pore volumes (up to 1.08 cm³ g^-1). The PC/PB composites displayed excellent SMX sorption capacities, which reached 844 mg g^-1. Pore filling played a crucial role in determining the sorption capacity, and hydrogen bonding, electrostatic interactions and π-π stacking controlled the sorption rate. This study provides an improved method for preparation of porous biochar.

Keywords: Citrate; Copyrolysis; Porous carbon; Sorption; Sulfamethoxazole.

MeSH terms

Adsorption
Charcoal / chemistry
Iron
Porosity
Potassium
Potassium Citrate
Seaweed*
Sulfamethoxazole* / chemistry

Substances

Sulfamethoxazole
Iron
biochar
Potassium Citrate
Charcoal
Potassium