Preparation of Mulberry Branch Biomass Char and Its Usage in Wastewater Treatment

Abstract

Biomass char was prepared from mulberry branches by physical activation. An examination by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) indicated that the functional groups of Si-O were mostly burnt out, significantly decreasing the ash content. Analysis of data from a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) test also revealed increased surface roughness and pore structure, which improved the adsorption capacity of biomass char after preparation. The optimum conditions for preparation were found to be pyrolysis at 700 °C for 30 minutes, and then activation at 750 °C for one hour, with 3.4% steam content for the activating agent. The prepared biomass char was then employed to adsorb ammonium, copper(II) actetate [Cu(II)] and hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] in a solution. The results indicated that the prepared biomass char had a better adsorptive performance than the raw material. Moreover, the removal of determinands increased along with the dosage, and the highest adsorption efficiency of ammonium, copper(II) acetate [Cu(II)] and hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] were found to be 20%, 100% and 50%, respectively. The adsorptions of ammonium and hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] can be simulated by a pseudo-second order model, while the adsorption of copper(II) acetate [Cu(II)] is better simulated by a pseudofirst order model. The adsorption isotherms of copper(II) acetate [Cu(II)] by biomass char were also investigated, and the Langmuir isotherm was found to best describe the adsorption process. Water Environ. Res., 84, 2060Res., 84, (2012.

Pyrolysis of Dried Wastewater Biosolids Can Be Energy Positive

“…Specifically, biochar enriched with digester filtrate can improve turf-grass growth, in part because of the added ammonia and potassium that the biochar adsorbs from the filtrate (Carey et al, 2015). Biochar has been used to improve moisture holding capacity in golf greens (Major, 2010), improve crop yields for agricultural purposes (Major et al 2010), and sorb metals (Wu et al, 2012). Additionally, microconstituents such as triclosan and triclocarban, which are linked to increased antibiotic resistance genes in biosolids, are removed from the biochar during pyrolysis (Ross et al, 2016;Carey et al, 2016;McNamara et al, 2014b).…”

Valorization of biomass ash for the effective removal of dipyrone from water: an efficient and low‐cost option

“…Wu et al 62 used charcoal from mulberry biomass for copper acetate adsorption, and Xu et al 11 evaluated ash from biomass composed of wheat stalk, corn straw, peanut husk and cotton stalk for copper adsorption, both studies identifying that the kinetic model that best fitted the results was the pseudo-first-order model. In addition, Lessa et al 17 adsorbed dipyrone and obtained the same behavior for the kinetics, that is, a significant increase in the first 30 min, followed by deceleration and reaching equilibrium.…”

Microbial oil production from solid-state fermentation by a newly isolated oleaginous fungus, Mucor circinelloides Q531 from mulberry branches

“…Mulberry leaves are used in sericulture, and abundant mulberry branches are by-products of this process. Although mulberry branches have long been used in Chinese medicine [3,4], most are harvested for firewood or result in agro-waste every year, which results in notable environmental problems [5]. Therefore, efficient use of excess mulberry branches remains an important challenge.…”

“…Many studies have been focused on exploring functional materials from mulberry trees in the past few years. Lignocellulose in mulberry can be used to produce slow-release urea fertilizer [6], biochar [5], cellulose whiskers [7], natural fibre [8] and scrimber [9]. Also, pectin [2], antiviral flavonoids [4] and mulberroside A [10] can be directly extracted from the bark or xylem of mulberry branches.…”

“…As lignocellulose biomass, mulberry branches are abundant in hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin. Mulberry branches contain 54.3% cellulose and 28.9% lignin [5]. These soluble and insoluble carbohydrates are widely recognized as a promising feedstock for biofuel and bioenergy [11][12][13].…”