Biochar from fungiculture waste for adsorption of endocrine disruptors in water

Engineered lignocellulosic based biochar to remove endocrine-disrupting chemicals: Assessment of binding mechanism

The safety and health of aquatic organisms and humans are threatened by the increasing presence of pollutants in the environment. Endocrine disrupting chemicals are common pollutants which affect the function of endocrine and causes adverse effects on human health. These chemicals can disrupt metabolic processes by interacting with hormone receptors upon consumptions by humans or aquatic species. Several studies have reported the presence of endocrine disrupting chemicals in waterbodies, food, air and soil. These chemicals are associated with increasing occurrence of obesity, metabolic disorders, reproductive abnormalities, autism, cancer, epigenetic variation and cardiovascular risk. Conventional treatment processes are expensive, not environment friendly and unable to achieve complete removal of these harmful chemicals. In recent years, biochar from different sources has gained a considerable interest due to their adsorption efficiency with porous structure and large surface areas. biochar derived from lignocellulosic biomass are widely used as sustainable catalysts in soil remediation, carbon sequestration, removal of organic and inorganic pollutants and wastewater treatment. This review conceptualizes the production techniques of biochar from lignocellulosic biomass and explores the functionalization and interaction of biochar with endocrine-disrupting chemicals. This review also identifies the further needs of research. Overall, the environmental and health risks of endocrine-disrupting chemicals can be dealt with by biochar produced from lignocellulosic biomass as a sustainable and prominent approach.

Conversion of locally available materials to biochar and activated carbon for drinking water treatment

For environmental sustainability and to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs), drinking water treatment must be done at a reasonable cost with minimal environmental impact. Therefore, treating contaminated drinking water requires materials and approaches that are inexpensive, produced locally, and effortlessly. Hence, locally available materials and their derivatives, such as biochar (BC) and activated carbon (AC) were investigated thoroughly. Several researchers and their findings show that the application of locally accessible materials and their derivatives are capable of the adsorptive removal of organic and inorganic contaminants from drinking water. The application of locally available materials such as lignocellulosic materials/waste and its thermo-chemically derived products, including BC and AC were found effective in the treatment of contaminated drinking water. Thus, this review aims to thoroughly examine the latest developments in the use of locally accessible feedstocks for tailoring BC and AC, as well as their features and applications in the treatment of drinking water. We attempted to explain facts related to the potential mechanisms of BC and AC, such as complexation, co-precipitation, electrostatic interaction, and ion exchange to treat water, thereby achieving a risk-free remediation approach to polluted water. Additionally, this research offers guidance on creating efficient household treatment units based on the health risks associated with customized adsorbents and cost-benefit analyses. Lastly, this review work discusses the current obstacles for using locally accessible materials and their thermo-chemically produced by-products to purify drinking water, as well as the necessity for technological interventions.

Viable remediation techniques to cleansing wastewaters comprising endocrine-disrupting compounds

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) have recently gained prominence as emerging pollutants due to their significant negative impacts on diverse living forms in ecosystems, including humans, by altering their endocrine systems. EDCs are a prominent category of emerging contaminants in various aquatic settings. Given the growing population and limited access to freshwater resources, their expulsion from aquatic systems is also a severe issue. EDC removal from wastewater depends on the physicochemical properties of the specific EDCs found in each wastewater type and various aquatic environments. Due to these components' chemical, physical, and physicochemical diversity, various approaches based on physical, biological, electrochemical, and chemical procedures have been developed to eliminate them. The objective of this review is to provide the comprehensive overview by selecting recent approaches that showed significant impact on the best available methods for removing EDCs from various aquatic matrices. It is suggested that adsorption by carbon-based materials or bioresources is effective at higher EDC concentrations. Electrochemical mechanization works, but it requires expensive electrodes, continual energy, and chemicals. Due to the lack of chemicals and hazardous byproducts, adsorption and biodegradation are considered environmentally friendly. When combined with synthetic biology and an AI system, biodegradation can efficiently remove EDCs and replace conventional water treatment technologies in the near future. Hybrid in-house methods may reduce EDCs best, depending on the EDC and resources.

Biochar from Grapevine Pruning Residues as an Efficient Adsorbent of Polyphenolic Compounds

Agricultural waste, which is produced in large quantities annually, can be a threat to the environment. Biochar (BC) production represents a potential solution for reducing the amount of grapevine pruning residues and, accordingly, the impact on the environment and climate change. Biochar produced by the process of pyrolysis from grapevine pruning residues was investigated and characterized to be applied as an adsorbent of polyphenolic compounds with the aim of using the waste from viticultural production to obtain a quality product with adsorption and recovery potential. Standards of caffeic acid (CA), gallic acid (GA), and oleuropein (OLP) were used as polyphenolic representatives. The obtained data were fitted with the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms models to describe the adsorption process. The best K_L (0.39) and R² (0.9934) were found for OLP using the Langmuir model. Furthermore, the adsorption dynamics and recovery potential of BC were investigated using an adapted BC column and performed on an HPLC instrument. The adsorption dynamics of biochar resulted in the adsorption of 5.73 mg CA g^-1 of BC, 3.90 mg GA g^-1 of BC, and 3.17 mg OLP g^-1 of BC in a 24 h contact. The online solid phase extraction of the compounds performed on an HPLC instrument yielded a recovery of 41.5 ± 1.71% for CA, 61.8 ± 1.16% for GA, and 91.4 ± 2.10% for OLP. The investigated biochar has shown a higher affinity for low-polar compound adsorption and, consequently, a higher polar compound recovery suggesting its potential as an efficient polyphenolic compound adsorbent.

Biochar for the Removal of Emerging Pollutants from Aquatic Systems: A Review

Water contaminated with emerging pollutants has become a serious environmental issue globally. Biochar is a porous and carbon-rich material produced from biomass pyrolysis and has the potential to be used as an integrated adsorptive material. Many studies have shown that biochar is capable to adsorb emerging pollutants from aquatic systems and could be used to solve the water pollution problem. Here, we provided a dual perspective on removing emerging pollutants from aquatic systems using biochar and analyzed the emerging pollutant removal efficiency from the aspects of biochar types, pollutant types and coexistence with heavy metals, as well as the associated mechanisms. The potential risks and future research directions of biochar utilization are also presented. This review aims to assist researchers interested in using biochar for emerging pollutants remediation in aquatic systems and facilitate research on emerging pollutants removal, thereby reducing their environmental risk.