Biosorption of organic micropollutants onto lignocellulosic-based material

Abstract

The occurrence of organic micropollutants such as pharmaceutical drugs and hormones in environmental matrices reflects the inefficiency of traditional wastewater treatment technologies. Biosorption is a promising alternative from a technical-economic point of view, yet understanding the mechanisms of adsorption in new biosorbents is vital for application and process optimization. Within this context, this study aims to evaluate the mechanisms of adsorption and removal of synthetic and natural hormones in Pinus elliotti bark biosorbent (PS) compared to commercial granular activated carbon (GAC) through kinetic models, isotherm models, and thermodynamic models. The adsorbents were also characterized by morphology, chemical composition, functional groups, and point of zero charges. Characterization of the adsorbents highlights the heterogeneous and fibrous morphology and broader range of functional groups found for PS. Kinetic adjustments showed high accuracy for pseudo-second-order, Elovich, and intraparticle diffusion models, presenting multilinearity and evidencing multi-stage adsorption. PS's isotherms followed high-affinity models, predominating chemosorption, while GAC's followed Langmuir model, where physisorption predominates. These mechanisms were confirmed by thermodynamic models, which also indicated a higher dependence on temperature in the adsorption. In the fortified water removal test, PS showed removal values higher than GAC, highlighting the advantages attributed to the characteristics of this adsorbent.

Recent Advances on Innovative Materials from Biowaste Recycling for the Removal of Environmental Estrogens from Water and Soil

“…However, the high costs of these synthetic adsorbents limit their use. Innovative solutions explored in recent years for wastewater remediation are based on the use of adsorbents deriving from both raw biowaste [ 99 ] and processed biowaste of bioenergy technologies [ 49 , 100 ]. In a medium-term perspective, and especially in low-income countries, the latter category of materials that are effectively waste from waste treatment could be valid competitors of much more expensive synthetic materials and replace them at least in part.…”

Evaluation of concerning emergent compounds characteristics and simultaneous biosorption through multivariate technique

“…Studies observe that lignin-based biosorbents have similar or even higher removal percentages of CECs than commercially activated carbon materials (MONTANÉ; TORNÉ-FERNÁNDEZ; FIERRO, 2005;MORO et al, 2017;CALISTO et al, 2017;MOTA;PINHEIRO, 2020). In addition, adsorption capacities on biosorbents are generally much improved after modification, while reaction methods are outstanding means to produce better lignocellulosebased materials (SUHAS; CARROTT; RIBEIRO; CARROTT, 2007;PINHEIRO et al, 2018;QUESADA et al, 2019).…”