Radially aligned hierarchical N-doped porous carbon beads derived from oil-sand asphaltene for long-life water filtration and wastewater treatment

Bijan Nasri-Nasrabadi; Bożena Czech; Ram Yadav; Kamyar Shirvanimoghaddam; Agnieszka Krzyszczak; Vishnu Unnikrishnan; Minoo Naebe

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160896

Radially aligned hierarchical N-doped porous carbon beads derived from oil-sand asphaltene for long-life water filtration and wastewater treatment

Sci Total Environ. 2023 Mar 10:863:160896. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160896. Epub 2022 Dec 11.

Authors

Bijan Nasri-Nasrabadi¹, Bożena Czech², Ram Yadav¹, Kamyar Shirvanimoghaddam¹, Agnieszka Krzyszczak², Vishnu Unnikrishnan¹, Minoo Naebe³

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, Vic 3216, Australia.
² Department of Radiochemistry and Environmental Chemistry, Institute of Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Chemistry, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, 3 Maria Curie-Skłodowska Sq., 20-031 Lublin, Poland.
³ Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, Vic 3216, Australia. Electronic address: minoo.naebe@deakin.edu.au.

PMID: 36516923
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160896

Abstract

The application of waste-derived highly efficient adsorbent for organic pollutants removal from water and wastewater is presented. Highly porous carbon beads with radially aligned macrochannels were prepared from asphaltene. Well-ordered inwardly aligned macrovoids favored solute diffusion and maximized the liquid accommodation capacity. A further N-doping could modulate the sorbent hydrophilicity leading to an outstanding absorption performance for a range of organic solvents and oily chemicals. N-doped carbon beads were effective sorbents of lopinavir (LNV) and ritonavir (RNV) from water and wastewater. The process of sorption was fast, and the highest removal was noted for RNV than LPV. N-doping favored LNV and RNV adsorption due to the increased porous structure of N-doped asphaltene beads. The chemisorption of both LPV and RTV was a rate-limiting step. The presence of co-pollutants in treated wastewater enhanced LPV and RNV removal and an up to 470 % increase was noted. The presence of LPV or RTV in distilled water was not toxic to Aliivibrio fischeri or even can stimulate their growth. However, after the adsorption process, the solution of RTV reduced its toxicity significantly and the final solution was not toxic. The opposite effect was noted for LPV. Given the repeatability, high removal performance, and cost-effectiveness of the asphaltene-based carbon microtubes when compared to other well-known sorbents such as carbon nanotubes, they demonstrated great potential as a low-cost and effective agent for long-life water filtration and wastewater treatment.

Keywords: Adsorption; Asphaltene; Lopinavir (LNV); Ritonavir (RNV); Wastewater.