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Low-Cost Biochar Adsorbents for Water Purification Including Microplastics Removal

Year of publication

2020

Authors

Siipola, Virpi; Pflugmacher, Stephan; Romar, Henrik; Wendling, Laura; Koukkari, Pertti

Abstract

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.
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Organizations and authors

University of Helsinki

Pflugmacher Stephan

University of Oulu

Romar Henrik Gustav

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd

Wendling Laura Orcid -palvelun logo

Siipola Virpi Orcid -palvelun logo

Koukkari Pertti

Publication type

Publication format

Article

Parent publication type

Journal

Article type

Original article

Audience

Scientific

Peer-reviewed

Peer-Reviewed

MINEDU's publication type classification code

A1 Journal article (refereed), original research

Publication channel information

Parent publication name

Applied Sciences (Switzerland)

Volume

10

Issue

3

Article number

788

Pages

788

​Publication forum

82219

​Publication forum level

1

Open access

Open access in the publisher’s service

Yes

Open access of publication channel

Fully open publication channel

Self-archived

Yes

Article processing fee (EUR)

1248

Year of payment for the open publication fee

2020

Other information

Fields of science

Chemical sciences; Environmental sciences; Plant biology, microbiology, virology; Materials engineering

Keywords

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Publication country

Switzerland

Internationality of the publisher

International

Language

English

International co-publication

No

Co-publication with a company

No

DOI

10.3390/app10030788

The publication is included in the Ministry of Education and Culture’s Publication data collection

Yes