Constructing a novel carbon material for efficient separation of uranium(VI) from solution

The purpose of this study was to develop a carbon material with excellent adsorption performance of uranium, which could effectively reduce the risk of damage to the water environment caused by pig manure (PM) and uranium-containing wastewater. Three kinds of biochars (PMBC-300, PMBC-500, and PMBC-700) were successfully constructed with pig manure as the precursor at different carbonization temperature (300, 500, and 700 degrees C) for removing uranium from the solution. Meanwhile, various adsorption isotherm and kinetics models were applied to deeply discuss the adsorption performances and mechanism of pig manure-derived biochar for uranium. The results showed that the surface charge and active sites of PMBC were the important parameters to affect the removal of uranium. The adsorption capacity of PMBC-500 reached 376.5 mg/g (m/V = 0.1 g/L, pH =4, and T = 298 K) due to the abundant active sites (phosphate, carbonate, and oxygen-containing groups), which was much higher than that of other reported carbon materials. Therefore, it could be considered that the conversion of PM into PMBC was a feasible method, which would effectively remove uranium from the solution and reduce the pollution of PM to the environment.