scholarly journals Low-Cost Biochar Adsorbents for Water Purification Including Microplastics Removal

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 788 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virpi Siipola ◽  
Stephan Pflugmacher ◽  
Henrik Romar ◽  
Laura Wendling ◽  
Pertti Koukkari

The applicability of steam activated pine and spruce bark biochar for storm water and wastewater purification has been investigated. Biochar samples produced from the bark of scots pine (Pinus sylvestrus) and spruce (Picea spp.) by conventional slow pyrolysis at 475 °C were steam activated at 800 °C. Steam activation was selected as a relatively inexpensive method for creating porous biochar adsorbents from the bark-containing sidestreams of the wood refining industry. A suite of standard analytical procedures were carried out to quantify the performance of the activated biochar in removing both cations and residual organics from aqueous media. Phenol and microplastics retention and cation exchange capacity were employed as key test parameters. Despite relatively low surface areas (200–600 m2/g), the steam-activated biochars were highly suitable adsorbents for the chemical species tested as well as for microplastics removal. The results indicate that ultra-high porosities are not necessary for satisfactory water purification, supporting the economic feasibility of bio-based adsorbent production.

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolas Natter ◽  
Nikolaos Kostoglou ◽  
Christian Koczwara ◽  
Christos Tampaxis ◽  
Theodore Steriotis ◽  
...  

Several crucial problems, such as rapid population growth and extended demands for food, water and fuels, could lead to a severe lack of clean water and an energy crisis in the coming decade. Therefore, low-cost and highly-efficient technologies related to filtration of alternative water supplies (e.g., purification of wastewater and water-rich liquids) and advanced energy storage (e.g., supercapacitors) could play a crucial role to overcome such challenges. A promising class of solid materials for these purposes is exfoliated graphene, and more specifically, its nanoporous forms that exhibit large specific surface areas and pore volumes. In the current work, two plasma-exfoliated graphene-based materials with distinctive morphological and porosity features, including non-porous and low-specific surface area platelets versus nanoporous and high-specific surface area flakes, were tested as filters for water purification purposes (i.e., decolourization and deacidification) and as electrodes for supercapacitors (i.e., ion electrosorption). The findings of this study suggest that a nanoporous and large specific surface area graphene-based material promotes the water purification behaviour by removing contaminants from water-based solutions as well as the energy storage performance by confining ions of aqueous electrolytes.


Author(s):  
Cheng Tian ◽  
Chengcheng Li ◽  
Delun Chen ◽  
Yifan Li ◽  
LEI XING ◽  
...  

Designing low-cost and efficient evaporation system to maximize solar energy utilization is of great importance for the emerging solar water purification technologies. Herein, we demonstrate a universal sandwich hydrogel by...


2021 ◽  
pp. 2101036
Author(s):  
Hengyi Lu ◽  
Wen Shi ◽  
Fei Zhao ◽  
Wenjing Zhang ◽  
Peixin Zhang ◽  
...  

Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 2091
Author(s):  
Angela Spoială ◽  
Cornelia-Ioana Ilie ◽  
Denisa Ficai ◽  
Anton Ficai ◽  
Ecaterina Andronescu

During the past few years, researchers have focused their attention on developing innovative nanocomposite polymeric membranes with applications in water purification. Natural and synthetic polymers were considered, and it was proven that chitosan-based materials presented important features. This review presents an overview regarding diverse materials used in developing innovative chitosan-based nanocomposite polymeric membranes for water purification. The first part of the review presents a detailed introduction about chitosan, highlighting the fact that is a biocompatible, biodegradable, low-cost, nontoxic biopolymer, having unique structure and interesting properties, and also antibacterial and antioxidant activities, reasons for using it in water treatment applications. To use chitosan-based materials for developing nanocomposite polymeric membranes for wastewater purification applications must enhance their performance by using different materials. In the second part of the review, the performance’s features will be presented as a consequence of adding different nanoparticles, also showing the effect that those nanoparticles could bring on other polymeric membranes. Among these features, pollutant’s retention and enhancing thermo-mechanical properties will be mentioned. The focus of the third section of the review will illustrate chitosan-based nanocomposite as polymeric membranes for water purification. Over the last few years, researchers have demonstrated that adsorbent nanocomposite polymeric membranes are powerful, important, and potential instruments in separation or removal of pollutants, such as heavy metals, dyes, and other toxic compounds presented in water systems. Lastly, we conclude this review with a summary of the most important applications of chitosan-based nanocomposite polymeric membranes and their perspectives in water purification.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 12133-12142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Song ◽  
Zhili Li ◽  
Jiubing Zhang ◽  
Ying Tang ◽  
Yuanyuan Ge ◽  
...  

2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ohbuchi Yoshihiro ◽  
Sasaki Takanori ◽  
Sumitomo Hiroaki ◽  
Saito Susumu ◽  
Tanaka Yoshiaki

Sapporo Waterworks Bureau's (SWB's) measures for CO2 reduction started in 1982 with a hydropower project at the Moiwa Water Purification Plant (MWPP) (cap. 155,000 m3/day). Operation of the generator was temporarily discontinued in 2001 for full-scale reconstruction of the water purification plant (WPP); after the completion of the reconstruction, the power generation equipment was renewed, and the operation resumed as a joint project with a private company in 2007. Power generation is on-site since the hydropower generator within the MWPP area provides energy consumed at the MWPP and the adjoining Waterworks Museum. This power generation is expected to create an energy saving effect equivalent to 1,500 tons of CO2 and over 10 million yen of annual net benefit. In order to increase the usage rate of low-cost, clean energy like hydropower at the WPP, SWB has made a series of adjustments to the operating methods of the plant. Then, as a result, the generation covers 97% of the energy used on-site at present. Furthermore, SWB is considering introducing other hydropower facilities of this kind that harness water transmission energy from the Shiraikawa WPP (cap. 650,000 m3/day) to the major distribution reservoirs.


2000 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.C. Wagner ◽  
S. Ramaswamy ◽  
U. Tschirner

AbstractA pre-economic feasibility study was undertaken to determine the potential of cereal straw for industrial utilization in Minnesota. Specifically, utilizing straw for pulp and paper manufacture was of interest. The availability of cereal straw fiber supplies at various locations across the state of Minnesota, along with pre-processing issues such as transportation, harvesting, handling, and storage, are discussed and priced. The greatest economic advantage of straw for industrial use appears to be the low cost of the raw material compared to traditional raw materials. This also provides an excellent opportunity for additional income for farmers. The methodology and information provided here should be helpful in evaluating the feasibility of utilizing straw for other industrial purposes in other parts of the world. However, in some Third World countries, long-standing on-farm, traditional uses of cereal straws for fuel, fiber, and animal feed may limit their availability for industrial utilization.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (39) ◽  
pp. 20860-20866 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahdi Fathizadeh ◽  
Huynh Ngoc Tien ◽  
Konstantin Khivantsev ◽  
Jung-Tsai Chen ◽  
Miao Yu

We demonstrated for the first time that inkjet printing can be a low-cost, easy, fast, and scalable method for depositing ultrathin (7.5–60 nm) uniform graphene oxide (GO) nanofiltration membranes on polymeric supports for highly effective water purification.


Nanoscale ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 4771-4778 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanbiao Liu ◽  
Fang Li ◽  
Qin Xia ◽  
Jiawei Wu ◽  
Jianshe Liu ◽  
...  

We developed a low-cost method to achieve efficient organic pollutants degradation by incorporating conductive nanomaterials to assist electro-oxidation, leading to an efficient conductive nano-sponge filtration device.


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