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Goranov AI, Sørmo E, Hagemann N, Cornelissen G, Zimmerman AR, Hatcher PG. Using the benzenepolycarboxylic acid (BPCA) method to assess activated biochars and their PFAS sorption abilities. Chemosphere 2024; 355:141750. [PMID: 38522671 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.141750] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2023] [Revised: 02/05/2024] [Accepted: 03/16/2024] [Indexed: 03/26/2024]
Abstract
Activated carbon (AC) has important industrial and environmental applications as it has excellent abilities to sorb contaminants such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Current research aims to develop activated biochars (AB) from renewable biomass to replace AC that is produced from fossil feedstock. Both AC and AB are primarily comprised of condensed aromatic carbon (ConAC), the component that is the focus of this study. ConAC is characterized to determine its relationship with biochar activation conditions and PFAS sorption, which are understudied at present. Benzenepolycarboxylic acid (BPCA) markers for ConAC were quantified in steam-activated biochars (AB-Steam) and carbon dioxide-activated biochars (AB-CO2) prepared from waste timber at different temperatures (800, 850, 900 °C) and molar ratios of feedstock-carbon:steam (0.50 - 1.25). A non-activated biochar was also included as a reference. ConAC relative to total organic carbon content was higher in AB-Steam than in AB-CO2 (92 ± 2 % vs. 81 ± 11%). The ratio of benzenehexa- (B6CA) to benzenepentacarboxylic (B5CA) acids revealed that AB-Steam also had larger ConAC clusters than AB-CO2. These findings provide novel evidence that steam activation is more effective than CO2 activation in creating ConAC. To assess how ConAC impacts AB sorption abilities, AB-Steam were used to remediate PFAS from contaminated soils. The observed strong correlations between ConAC content and sorption of long-chain PFAS suggest the importance of hydrophobic interactions between PFAS tails and ConAC. Poor correlations for short-chain PFAS, on the other hand, indicated the existence of electrostatic repulsion interactions between PFAS head groups and ConAC. Collectively, these results explain the great ability of AB-Steam to sorb PFAS from contaminated soils (up to 100% remediation). More broadly, this work demonstrates that the BPCA method can be a valuable tool to assess the quality of biochars and other carbonaceous sorbents in relation to their production conditions or contaminant sorption abilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aleksandar I Goranov
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA.
| | - Erlend Sørmo
- Department of Environmental Chemistry, Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI), Oslo, Norway; Faculty of Environmental Science and Natural Resource Management (MINA), University of Life Sciences (NMBU), Ås, Norway
| | - Nikolas Hagemann
- Agroscope, Reckenholz, Switzerland; Ithaka Institute for Carbon Strategies, Arbaz, Switzerland and Goldbach, Germany
| | - Gerard Cornelissen
- Department of Environmental Chemistry, Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI), Oslo, Norway; Faculty of Environmental Science and Natural Resource Management (MINA), University of Life Sciences (NMBU), Ås, Norway
| | - Andrew R Zimmerman
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | - Patrick G Hatcher
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA.
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Stylianou M, Laifi T, Bennici S, Dutournie P, Limousy L, Agapiou A, Papamichael I, Khiari B, Jeguirim M, Zorpas AA. Tomato waste biochar in the framework of circular economy. Sci Total Environ 2023; 871:161959. [PMID: 36739037 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.161959] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2022] [Revised: 01/23/2023] [Accepted: 01/28/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Tomato pomace was slowly pyrolyzed at 350 and 550 °C (under an N2 flow of 50 L/h) at a rate of 6 °C/min and a residence time of 1:30 h to produce two biochars named B350 and B550, respectively. In addition, the two biochars were chemically activated with ΚΟΗ (at a ratio of 1:10 w/v) at 800 °C to produce two new materials named BA350 and BA550. The four biochars produced were characterized physically and chemically (pH, yield, calorific value). They were also analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (B.E.T), elemental analysis (EA), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The results showed that as the pyrolysis temperature increased (350 to 550 °C), the specific surface area (SSA) increased. The latter was also significantly increased by the activation process. EA showed a variation in the mineral content of the produced biochars, resulting in a different content of the biochars after activation. The parameters studied showed that biochars from tomato waste could be used as an organic amendment to improve soil fertility in agricultural. In addition, because of their ability to absorb water, they could be used as a water reservoir in soils in arid areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marinos Stylianou
- Open University of Cyprus, Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, Laboratory of Chemical Engineering and Engineering Sustainability, Giannou Kranidioti, 89, 2231, Latsia, Nicosia, Cyprus.
| | - Terpsithea Laifi
- Open University of Cyprus, Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, Laboratory of Chemical Engineering and Engineering Sustainability, Giannou Kranidioti, 89, 2231, Latsia, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Simona Bennici
- Institut de Science des Matériaux de Mulhouse, 15, Rue Jean Starcky, 68057 Mulhouse Cedex, France.
| | - Patrick Dutournie
- Institut de Science des Matériaux de Mulhouse, 15, Rue Jean Starcky, 68057 Mulhouse Cedex, France.
| | - Lionel Limousy
- Institut de Science des Matériaux de Mulhouse, 15, Rue Jean Starcky, 68057 Mulhouse Cedex, France.
| | - Agapios Agapiou
- Department of Chemistry, University of Cyprus, P.O. Box 20537, 1678 Nicosia, Cyprus.
| | - Iliana Papamichael
- Open University of Cyprus, Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, Laboratory of Chemical Engineering and Engineering Sustainability, Giannou Kranidioti, 89, 2231, Latsia, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Besma Khiari
- Wastewaters and Environment Laboratory, Water Research and Technologies Center (CERTE), Technopark Borj Cedria, University of Carthage, P.O. Box 273, Soliman 8020, Tunisia.
| | - Mejdi Jeguirim
- Department of Chemistry, University of Cyprus, P.O. Box 20537, 1678 Nicosia, Cyprus.
| | - Antonis A Zorpas
- Open University of Cyprus, Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, Laboratory of Chemical Engineering and Engineering Sustainability, Giannou Kranidioti, 89, 2231, Latsia, Nicosia, Cyprus.
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