AccScience Publishing / AJWEP / Volume 13 / Issue 1 / DOI: 10.3233/AJW-160004
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Physico-chemical Activation on Rice Husk Biochar for  Enhancing of Cadmium Removal from Aqueous Solution

Songkrit Prapagdee1,2* Somkiat Piyatiratitivorakul1,3 Amorn Petsom1,4
Show Less
1 Inter-Department of Environmental Science, Graduate School, Chulalongkorn University Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
2 Environmental Research Institute, Chulalongkorn University Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
3 Department of Marine Science, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
4 Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
AJWEP 2016, 13(1), 27–34; https://doi.org/10.3233/AJW-160004
Submitted: 4 November 2014 | Revised: 22 December 2015 | Accepted: 22 December 2015 | Published: 1 January 2016
© 2016 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC-by the license) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )
Abstract

The biochar was prepared from rice husk by pyrolysis at slow pyrolysis at 300, 400, and 500ºC. The obtained biochars were activated by combined physico-chemical methods. An alkaline solution of 1.63 M of KOH was used for chemical pre-activation and made second pyrolysis at the same condition as first pyrolysis. Adsorption efficiency was studied using the batch static method under laboratory conditions. Cd(II) ion removal efficiency of activated biochars was increased from 13–20% to 95–97% over non-activated biochar. The activated biochar at a pyrolysis temperature of 300°C showed the highest Cd(II) ion removal efficiency of 97% at 180 min of contact time. Cd(II) ion adsorption isotherms of activated biochar were fitted well both in Langmuir and Freundlich model. The maximum Cd(II) ion adsorption capacity of activated biochar pyrolysis at 300ºC was 45.87 mg g-1, about six times higher than that of the non-activated biochar (7.76 mg g-1). The activated biochar increased the BET surface area from 7.71 to 11.57 m2g-1. It has been suggested that the simplicity of the physico-chemical activation technique, technically feasible, eco-friendly, and cost effective, can stimulate high Cd(II) ion removal efficiency of rice husk biochar.

Keywords
Cadmium removal
rice husk
activated biochar
biosorption
KOH activation
Conflict of interest
The authors declare they have no competing interests.
References

American Public Health Association (APHA), American Water Works Association (AWWA), Water Environment Federation (WEF) (2005). Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater. Twenty-first ed. American Public Health Association, Washington D.C., USA.

Azargohar, R. and A.K. Dalai (2008). Steam and KOH activation of biochar: Experimental and modeling studies. Microrous and Mesoporous Materials, 110: 413-421.

Bailey, S.E., Olin, T.J., Bricka, R.M. and D.D. Adrian (1999). A review of potentially low-cost sorbents for heavy metals. Water Research, 33: 2469-2479.

Carabineiro, S.A.C., Thavorn-Amornsri, T., Pereira, M.F.R. and J.L. Figueiredo (2011). Adsorption of ciprofloxacin on surface-modified carbon materials. Water Research,45: 4583-4591.

Chia, C.H., Gong, B., Joseph, S.D., Marjo, C.E., Munroe, P. and A.M. Rich (2012). Imaging of mineral-enriched biochar by FTIR, Raman and SEM–EDX. Vibrational Spectroscopy, 62: 248-257.

Daffalla, S.B., Mukhtar, H. and M.S. Shaharun (2010). Characterization of adsorbent developed from rice husk: Effect of surface functional group on phenol adsorption. Journal of Applied Sciences, 10: 1060-1067.

Daifullah, A.A.M., Girgis, B.S. and H.M.H. Gad (2003). Utilization of agro-residues (rice husk) in small waste water treatment plants. Materials Letters, 57: 1723-1731.

Demirbas, A. (2004). Effects of temperature and particle size on bio-char yield from pyrolysis of agricultural residues. Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis, 72: 243-248.

El-Shafey, E.I. (2007). Sorption of Cd(II) and Se(IV) from aqueous solution using modified rice husk. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 147: 546-555.

Forstner, U. and G.T.W. Wittmann (1981). Metal Pollution in the Aquatic Environment. Second ed. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Germany.

Gulipalli, S.C., Prasad, B. and K.L. Wasewar (2011). Batch study, equilibrium and kinetics of adsorption of selenium using rice husk ash (RHA). Journal of Engineering Science and Technology, 6: 586-605.

Gupta, V.K., Jain, C.K., Ali, I., Sharma, M. and V.K. Saini (2003). Removal of cadmium and nickel from wastewater using bagasse fly ash—A sugar industry waste. Water Research, 37: 4038-4044.

Haris, M.R.H.M., Wahab, N.A.A., Reng, C.W., Azahari, B. and K. Sathasivam (2011). The sorption of cadmium(II) ions on mercerized rice husk and activated carbon. Turkish Journal of Chemistry, 35: 939-950.

Hossain, M.K., Strezov, V., Chan, K.Y., Ziolkowski, A. and P.F. Nelson (2011). Influence of pyrolysis temperature on production and nutrient properties of wastewater sludge biochar. Journal of Environmental Management, 92: 223-228.

Kołodynska, D., Wnetrzak, R., Leahy, J.J., Hayes, M.H.B., Kwapinski, W. and Z. Hubicki (2012). Kinetic and adsorptive characterization of biochar in metal ions removal. Chemical Engineering Journal, 197: 295-305.

Lehmann, J. (2007). A handful of carbon. Nature, 447: 143-144.

Low, K.S., Lee, C.K. and Liew, S.C. (2000). Sorption of cadmium and lead from aqueous solutions by spent grain. Process Biochemistry, 36: 59-64.

Machida, M., Fotoohi, B., Amamo, Y. and L. Mercier (2012). Cadmium(II) and lead(II) adsorption onto hetero-atom functional mesoporous silica and activated carbon. Applied Surface Science, 258: 7389-7394.

Martinez-Escandell, M. and M.M.D. Castro (2013). KOH activation of carbon materials obtained from the pyrolysis of ethylene tar at different temperatures. Fuel Processing Technology, 106: 402-407.

Moreno-Castilla, C., Lopez-Ramon, M.V. and F. Carrasco- Marin (2000). Changes in surface chemistry of activated carbons by wet oxidation. Carbon, 38: 1995-2001.

Ngah, W.S.W. and M.A.K.M. Hanafiah (2008). Removal of heavy metal ions from wastewater by chemically modified plant wastes as adsorbents: A review. Bioresource Technology, 99: 3935-3948.

Okeola, F.O. and E.O. Odebunmi (2010). Comparison of Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms for adsorption of methylene blue by agrowaste derived activated carbon. Advances in Environmental Biology, 4: 329-335.

Pan, J., Jiang, J. and R. Xu (2013). Adsorption of Cr(III) from acidic solutions by crop straw derived biochars. Journal of Environmental Sciences, 25: 1957-1965.

Rao, K.S., Mohapatra, M., Anand, S. and P. Venkateswarlu (2010). Review on cadmium removal from aqueous solutions. International Journal of Engineering, Science and Technology, 2: 81-103.

Regmi, P., Moscoso, J.L.G., Kumar, S., Cao, X., Mao, J. and G. Schafran (2012). Removal of copper and cadmium from aqueous solution using switchgrass biochar produced via hydrothermal carbonization process. Journal of Environmental Management, 109: 61-69.

Sensoz, S. and D. Angin (2008). Pyrolysis of safflower (Charthamus tinctorius L.) seed presscake: Part 1. The effects of pyrolysis parameters on the product yields. Bioresource Technology, 99: 5492-5497.

Song, W. and M. Guo (2012). Quality variations of poultry litter biochar generated at different pyrolysis temperatures. Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis, 94: 138-145.

Spokas, K.A. (2010). Review of the stability of biochar in soils: Predictability of O:C molar ratios. Carbon Management, 1: 289-303.

Srivastava, S. and I.S.Thakur (2006). Evaluation of bioremediation and detoxification potentiality of Aspergillus niger for removal of hexavalent chromium in soil microcosm. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 7: 1904-1911.

Sukiran, M.A., Kheang, L.S., Bakar, N.A. and C.Y. May (2011). Production and characterization of bio-char from the pyrolysis of empty fruit bunches. Journal of Applied Sciences, 8: 984-988.

Tangjuank, S., Insuk, N., Tontrakoon, J. and V. Udeye (2009). Adsorption of lead(II) and cadmium(II) ions from aqueous solutions by adsorption on activated carbon prepared from cashew nut shells. World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, 52: 110-116.

Uchimiya, M., Lima, I.M., Klasson, K.T., Chang, S.C., Wartelle, L.H. and J.E.Rodgers (2010). Immobilization of heavy metal ions (CuII, CdII, NiII, and PbII) by broiler litter- derived biochars in water and soil. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 58: 5538-5544.

Velo-Gala, I., Lopez-Penalver, J.J., Sanchez-Polo, M. and J. Rivera-Utrilla (2014). Surface modifications of activated carbon by gamma irradiation. Carbon, 67: 236-249.

Yongbin, J., Xiangyuan, H., Yi, Z. and J. Hongbing (2010). Chemisorption and physical adsorption roles in cadmium biosorption by Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii. Chinese Journal of Population Resources and Environment, 8: 54-58.

Share
Back to top
Asian Journal of Water, Environment and Pollution, Electronic ISSN: 1875-8568 Print ISSN: 0972-9860, Published by AccScience Publishing