In this study, the Ce-modified tea residue biochar (Ce-TBC) was successfully generated and applied to the biochar/persulfate system (Ce-TBC/PDS), the mechanism of the removal of tetracycline (TC) using Ce-TBC/PDS was elaborated. Under the optimal experimental conditions (Ce-TBC = 0.8 g L-1, PDS = 4 mM, TC = 10 mg L-1), the removal efficiency of TC was 91.28%, and after 5 cycles, the elimination rate of Ce-TBC/PDS still reached up to 80%. The mechanism of TC removal by Ce-TBC/PDS was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), Fourier infrared transform spectrometer (FT-IR), and X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS) characterization, and influence factor experiments. The results showed that the introduction of CeOx increased the oxygen vacancies on the TBC surface and promoted the interconversion between Ce3+ and Ce4+ for better activation of PDS and generation of active species. Free radical quenching experiments and paramagnetic resonance spectrometry (EPR) analysis showed that the non-radical pathway 1O2 played a dominant role in the Ce-TBC/PDS system. The present work provided an efficient means of PDS activator and recycling of tea waste.
Keywords: Advanced oxidation process; CeOx; Tea waste biochar; Tetracycline.
© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.