Application of Iron and Sulfate-Modified Biochar in Phosphorus Removal from Water

The excessive discharge of phosphate into natural water has caused serious environmental problems. Adsorption is an efficient technology for phosphorus removal from water. In this study, a novel biochar modified by chitosan, ferrous sulfate, and sodium sulfide was synthesized and performed well in phosphorus adsorption. The results of batch experiments showed that the optimum synthesized composite could adsorb 49.32 mg·g-1 of phosphate at 298 K. Meanwhile, the simulation results showed better fitting with the pseudo-second-order model and Langmuir model. The adsorption rate was dominated by three-dimensional diffusion within the inner pores. The adsorption process was defined as physic/chemisorption, while the adsorption mechanism was concluded to be electrostatic adsorption, porous filling, surface chemical precipitation, hydrogen binding, and the ligand effect. This study showed that the composite is effective in phosphorus removal from water, and we anticipate that our research will offer guidelines for adsorbent design and reveal the adsorption mechanism.