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Process Intensification For Rare Earth Elements Adsorption By Resonant Vibratory Mixing, Oluwatosin Adebayo, Richard Ladouceur, Zainab Nasrullah

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

The adsorption capacity for six rare earth elements (Lanthanum, Terbium, Neodymium, Dysprosium, Praseodymium, and Holmium) by biochar produced from hemp feedstock was investigated. An innovative approach to enhancing the adsorption of rare earth elements using biochar was studied and investigates the potential of resonant vibratory mixing (RVM) as a process intensification method compared to conventional mechanical mixing for the adsorption process. Hemp hurds as source of biomass was pyrolyzed to produce biochar at a temperature of 4500C for 60 minutes. The biochar was characterized by FTIR (Fourier Transform Infra-red), SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy), Surpass 3 Electrokinetic solid surface analyzer, and …

Biochar For Heavy Metal Removal In Water: Opportunities, Challenges, And Sustainable Solutions, Pushpita Kumkum

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The presence of heavy metals in drinking water is a significant concern due to the harmful impacts it can have on human health. Biochar has emerged as a low-cost alternative to activated carbon for lead (Pb) adsorption due to its porous structure and high surface-to-volume ratio. The last 10 years of studies have been reviewed to investigate the biochar production, activation methods, kinetic, adsorption isotherms, mechanism, regeneration, and adsorption capacities to guide future researchers and practitioners in using biochar to remove Pb from water. However, several challenges hinder the actual application of biochar as an adsorbent. These challenges include variability …

Characterization And Evaluation Of Various Biochar Types As Green Adsorbents For Rare Earth Element Recovery From Aqueous Solutions, Oluwaseun Victor Famobuwa

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Rare earth elements (REEs) are members of the lanthanide family (atomic number 57 – 71). They are significantly important to the global economy due to their applications in renewable energy, defense, and medical industries. REEs are primarily derived from bastnaesite and monazite but may also be present in xenotime, cerite, alanite, and many other types of mineralization in lesser amounts. Due to the increasing demand for REEs and their criticality in the supply chain, the need to explore secondary sources of REEs has gained tremendous importance.

Secondary sources of REEs include but are not limited to acid mine drainage (AMD), …

A Review On Biochar As An Adsorbent For Pb(Ii) Removal From Water, Pushpita Kumkum, Sandeep Kumar

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Heavy metal contamination in drinking water is a growing concern due to its severe health effects on humans. Among the many metals, lead (Pb), which is a toxic and harmful element, has the most widespread global distribution. Pb pollution is a major problem of water pollution in developing countries and nations. The most common sources of lead in drinking water are lead pipes, faucets, and plumbing fixtures. Adsorption is the most efficient method for metal removal, and activated carbon has been used widely in many applications as an effective adsorbent, but its high production costs have created the necessity for …

Direct Blue 86 Textile Dye Removal From Aqueous Solution Using Rice Husk-Based Adsorbent, M. Zulbahari M. Zua, Muhammad Raza Ul Mustafa, Mohamed Hasnain Isa, Teh Sabariah Binti Abd Manan, Naimah Ibrahim, Rozeana Hj Md Juani, Wida Susanty Hj Suhaili, Asmaal Muizz Sallehhin Bin Hj Mohammad Sultan, Zuliana Binti Hj Nayan

ASEAN Journal on Science and Technology for Development

Adsorption by activated carbon is an effective method of dye removal. However, due to high production and regeneration costs of activated carbon, various studies on low-cost adsorbents have been conducted. Agricultural waste such as rice husk (RH) is seen to be a good adsorbent for dye removal. Moreover, rice husk is readily available. In this study, rice husk-based adsorbents were prepared by chemical and thermal treatments. Standard curve (colour vs absorbance) for Direct Blue 86 (DB 86) was prepared to determine the concentration of dye before and after adsorption. The adsorption potential of the adsorbent for textile dye DB 86 …

Application Of Biochar For Antibiotic-Free Nutrient Recovery From Source-Separated Human Urine, Sayeda Ummeh Masrura

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In recent years, the application of biochar as a soil amendment has gained attention as a potential solution for nutrient management and environmental remediation. Biochar, a carbon-rich material produced through the pyrolysis of biomass under oxygen-limited conditions, exhibits unique physicochemical properties making it an effective sorbent for nutrients and contaminants. Its high surface area, porosity, and stability provide an ideal matrix for nutrient retention and release, as well as the immobilization of pollutants. One area of particular interest is the application of biochar for nutrient recovery from source-separated human urine. Source separation of urine has gained momentum as a sustainable …

The Cr(Iii) Exchange Mechanism Of Macroporous Resins: The Effect Of Functionality And Chemical Matrix, And The Statistical Verification Of Ion Exchange Data, Khizar Hussain Shah, Noor S. Shah, Gul Afshan Khan, Sadaf Sarfraz, Jibran Iqbal, Aneeqa Batool, Ahmad Jwuiyad, Shabnam Shahida, Changseok Han, Monika Wawrzkiewicz

All Works

This study focuses on investigating and comparing the influence of the surface functional groups and chemical matrices of macroporous resin on the Cr(III) exchange mechanism. The results discussed herein indicate that sulfonic resin removed Cr(III) ions with faster kinetics than carboxylic resin. Equilibrium was established within 15 and 7 min for the carboxylic and sulfonic resins, respectively, with a 99.5% removal efficiency at 333 K. The Langmuir exchange capacity was observed to be higher for the sulfonic resin (1.5 mmol∙g−1) than the carboxylic resin (0.80 mmol∙g−1) at 333 K. The adsorption isotherms obtained for the carboxylic and sulfonic resins were …

Comparing Phosphorus Removal Efficiencies And Mechanisms Via Two Cost-Effective Specialty Adsorbents In A Cascade Upflow Filtration System, Sydney Kilgus-Vesely

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Finding solutions to treat water that contains phosphorus is an important effort due to the harmful impacts it presents to both human health and the environment. Phosphorus is considered a limiting factor in water oftentimes and therefore controls the growth of algal bloom in a water body. The increase of algal populations due to wastewater effluent, stormwater runoff, and agricultural discharge in Florida waters has a direct link to the event of harmful algal blooms such as red tide in coastal regions, eutrophication of waterbodies, and fish kills. Finding low cost, energy efficient, and low maintenance green sorption media (GSM) …

Preparation Of N-, O-, And S-Tri-Doped Biochar Through One-Pot Pyrolysis Of Poplar And Urea Formaldehyde And Its Enhanced Removal Of Tetracycline From Wastewater, Wenran Gao, Zixiang Lin, Shanshan Yan, Yaxuan Gao, Hong Zhang, Xun Hu, Hongqi Sun, Shu Zhang

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

In this study, biochar was prepared via hybrid doping of N, O, and S by applying one-pot pyrolysis of poplar wood and S-containing urea formaldehyde at 900 °C. Different doping ratios were adopted, and the contents of O, N, and S were in the ranges of 2.78 – 5.56 %, 2.16 – 4.92 %, and 1.42 – 4.98 %, respectively. This hybrid doping significantly enhanced the efficiency of the removal of tetracycline (40 mg/L) from wastewater to 71.84 % in comparison with that attained by using normal poplar biochar (29.45 %). The adsorption kinetics and isotherms indicated that the adsorption …

Per- And Polyfluoroalkyl Substances Mitigation From Contaminated Groundwater Using Halophyte And Cow Bone Biochars, Bailey Papes

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) groundwater contamination is a growing concern for the Brackish Groundwater National Desalination Research Facility. Two of the four wells onsite are contaminated with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), and perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS). The removal of PFAS by adsorption onto powder activated carbon (PAC) is promising, but the production of PAC is energy intensive and expensive. A potential cost-effective alternative to PAC is biochar. This study quantified the capacities of two halophyte biochars, cow bone biochar and PAC to adsorb PFOA, PFOS, and PFHxS from brackish groundwater. The three biochars were ineffective at …

Clean Process To Utilize The Potassium-Containing Phosphorous Rock With Simultaneous Hcl And Kcl Production Via The Steam-Mediated Reactions, Yunshan Wang, Lufang Shi, Houli Li, Yixiao Wang, Zhiying Wang, Xuebin An, Mingzhu Tang, Gang Yang, Jun He, Jing Hu, Yong Sun

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

In this paper, a clean process based on the steam-mediated reactions for simultaneous HCl and KCl production using the potassium (K)-containing phosphorous rock as a precursor is proposed. Through hydrochloric acid (HCl) leaching, not only the generation of H₃PO₄and CaCl₂ (via further precipitation) were realized but also the acid-insoluble residue [phosphorous-rock slag (PS)] rich in elements, that is, K, Al, Si, and so on, in the form of microcline (KAlSi₃O₈) and quartz (SiO₂) was obtained and became readily available for further HCl and KCl generation. Over 95 % of …

Date Palm Waste Pyrolysis Into Biochar For Carbon Dioxide Adsorption, Imen Ben Salem, Mariam Badawi Saleh, Jibran Iqbal, Maisa El Gamal, Suhaib Hameed

All Works

Mitigation of CO2 is a very popular research currently, it is ultimately beneficial to find new ways that are sustainable, low cost and gas emission friendly. Therefore, with biochar’s characteristics and properties it has great potential to be used as a CO2 capture and storage media. The objectives of reducing palm waste by using the low-cost, sustainable method for reducing and storing CO2, characterize the DPL biochar through FTIR, XRD, SEM, EDX, and then evaluate the efficiency of the date palm leaf waste biochar in adsorbing CO2 through the Gas–Solid analyzer technology. Date palm leaf was set in pyrolysis process …

Develop A Multi-Functional Green Pervious Concrete (Mgpc) Pavement With Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (Pahs) Removal Function., Hong Shang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Stormwater runoff induced Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) contaminant increasingly imperils the groundwater quality and the sustainable development of human society due to the potential carcinogenic risks. Pavement can be considered as the first line of defense for contaminant removal of the stormwater runoff. New construction materials with stormwater runoff quantity and quality control are in urgent demand for updating the existing pavement system. An innovative material called Multi-functional Green Pervious Concrete (MGPC) was developed in the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at University of Louisville. This material uses organoclay as the amendment to enhance the PAHs removal capacity of …

Wastewater Remediation Technologies Using Macroscopic Graphene-Based Materials: A Perspective, Rajan Arjan Kalyan Hirani, Abdul Hannan Asif, Nasir Rafique, Lei Shi, Shu Zhang, Hong Wu, Hongqi Sun

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Three-dimensional (3D) graphene-based macrostructures are being developed to combat the issues associated with two-dimensional (2D) graphene materials in practical applications. The 3D macrostructures (3DMs), for example, membranes, fibres, sponges, beads, and mats, can be formed by the self-assembly of 2D graphene-based precursors with exceptional surface area and unique chemistry. With rational design, the 3D macrostructures can then possess outstanding properties and exclusive structures. Thanks to various advantages, these macrostructures are competing in a variety of applications with promising performances unlike the traditional activated carbons, biochars and hydrochars, which have less flexibilities for modifications towards versatile applications. However, despite having such …

Removal Of Heavy Metals Using Novel Adsorbent Materials, Lesley Joseph

Theses and Dissertations

Heavy metal contamination is a growing concern throughout the world, particularly as industrial and urban activities have increased. Inadequate water and wastewater treatment, coupled with increased industrial activity, have led to increased heavy metal contamination in rivers, lakes, and other water sources in developing countries. To address these concerns, a significant amount of research has been conducted on various novel adsorbents to evaluate their ability to remove heavy metals. Thus, in this study, MIL-100(Fe) and MIL-101(Cr) are fabricated and investigated to determine their ability to remove copper (Cu2+), cadmium (Cd2+), and lead (Pb2+) from aqueous solution. The experimental data fit …

Design Of Hybrid Pah Nanoadsorbents By Surface Functionalization Of Zro2 Nanoparticles With Phosphonic Acids, Nadine Bou Orm, Thomas Grea, Marwa Hamandi, Alexandre Lambert, Florent Lafay, Emmanuelle Vulliet, Stephane Daniele

All Works

This study focuses on the preparation of innovative nanocomposite materials based on surface modification of commercial nano-ZrO2 optimized from Bronsted acid-base surface reactions. This surface modification was carried out by direct grafting of suitable phosphonic acids bearing a vinylic or phenylic substituent in aqueous solution. Different loading quantities of the anchoring organophosphorus compounds were applied for each materials synthesis. The resulting nanohybrids were thoroughly characterized by infrared spectroscopy (DRIFT), solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), nitrogen adsorption-desorption (BET), thermogravimetric analysis (TG), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), demonstrating the reliability and efficient tunability of the surface functionalization based on the starting Zr/P …

Use Of Food Waste Activated Carbons For Wastewater Treatment, Abigale Monasterial

Honors Scholar Theses

Activated carbons are often used to remove phenol from wastewater. However, they are usually derived from expendable resources, such as coal and have high regeneration costs. In this work, the adsorption of phenol on activated carbon derived from food waste was studied to understand its kinetics, determine its maximum adsorption capacity, and compare it to commercial activated carbons. Adsorption experiments were performed at 298 K for 48 hours at various pHs and initial phenol concentrations. The adsorption data was then fit to the pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order, and intraparticle diffusion models to understand the kinetics and to the Langmuir and …

Removal Of Fluoride From Mine Water Via Adsorption For Land-Applied Soil Amendment, Jacqueline Payne, Mary Johnson, Kevin Le, Michelle Dopp, Courtney Golman, Adrian Damian, Ethan Phan

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The process of mining minerals and elements from ores and rocks creates acid rock drainage (ARD). This drainage is water that contains heavy metals and minerals that can be dangerous for human consumption or damaging to the environment. The mining industry has employed various water treatment methods to prevent these metals and minerals from being discharged into water sources such as ponds, lakes, and streams. Currently, the most used treatment process in the mining industry is a cost-effective highdensity sludge (HDS) process. This method reduces the concentration of metals and elements with the use of lime/limestone. However, the concentration of …

Removal Of Fluoride From Mine Water Via Adsorption For Land-Applied Soil Amendment, Michelle Dopp, Kevin Le, Ethan Phan, Mary Johnson, Jacqueline Payne, Adrian Damian, Courtney Golman

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Moo Pig Sooie’s researched, designed, and economically analyzed a full-scale adsorption column system to be applied in mining processes that leave high amounts of fluoride in their effluent. This system was designed to remove fluoride from water saturated with calcium sulfate, as calcium sulfate is present in high amounts in certain mining processes. Currently, high density sludge (HDS) is commonly employed to reduce fluoride concentrations, but due to solubility limits the sludge treatment cannot lower fluoride below 10 mg/L (ppm). The current enforceable EPA standard for discharged water is at 4 mg/L (ppm), although mining companies anticipate that this …

Removal Of Fluoride From Mine Water Via Adsorption For Land-Applied Soil Amendment, Kevin Le, Adrian Damian, Mary Johnson, Ethan Phan, Courtney Golman, Michelle Dopp, Jacqueline Payne

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The team researched, designed, and economically analyzed a full-scale adsorption column system to be applied in mining processes that leave high amounts of fluoride in their effluent. This system was designed to remove fluoride from water saturated with calcium sulfate, as calcium sulfate is present in high amounts in certain mining processes. Currently, high density sludge (HDS) is commonly employed to reduce fluoride concentrations, but due to solubility limits the sludge treatment cannot lower fluoride below 10 mg/L (ppm). The current enforceable EPA standard for discharged water is at 4 mg/L (ppm), although mining companies anticipate that this standard will …

Removal Of Fluoride From Mine Water Via Adsorption For Land-Applied Soil Amendment, Ethan Phan, Adrian Damian, Kevin Le, Mary Johnson, Courtney Golman, Michelle Dopp, Jacqueline Payne

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The process of mining minerals and elements from ores and rocks creates acid rock drainage (ARD). This drainage is water that contains heavy metals and minerals that can be dangerous for human consumption or damaging to the environment. The mining industry has employed various water treatment methods to prevent these metals and minerals from being discharged into water sources such as ponds, lakes, and streams. Currently, the most used treatment process in the mining industry is a cost-effective high-density sludge (HDS) process. This method reduces the concentration of metals and elements with the use of lime/limestone. However, the concentration of …

Removal Of Fluoride From Mine Water Via Adsorption For Land-Applied Soil Amendment, Courtney Golman, Kevin Le, Michelle Dopp, Adrian Damian, Mary Johnson, Jacqueline Payne, Ethan Phan

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The process of mining minerals and elements from ores and rocks creates acid rock drainage (ARD). This drainage is water that contains heavy metals and minerals that can be dangerous for human consumption or damaging to the environment. The mining industry has employed various water treatment methods to prevent these metals and minerals from being discharged into water sources such as ponds, lakes, and streams. Currently, the most used treatment process in the mining industry is a cost-effective highdensity sludge (HDS) process. This method reduces the concentration of metals and elements with the use of lime/limestone. However, the concentration of …

Removal Of Fluoride From Mine Water Via Adsorption For Land-Applied Soil Amendment, Adrian Damian, Kevin Le, Mary Johnson, Ethan Phan, Courtney Golman, Michelle Dopp, Jacqueline Payne

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The process of mining minerals and elements from ores and rocks creates acid rock drainage (ARD). This drainage is water that contains heavy metals and minerals that can be dangerous for human consumption or damaging to the environment. The mining industry has employed various water treatment methods to prevent these metals and minerals from being discharged into water sources such as ponds, lakes, and streams. Currently, the most used treatment process in the mining industry is a cost-effective highdensity sludge (HDS) process. This method reduces the concentration of metals and elements with the use of lime/limestone. However, the concentration of …

Treatment Of Combined Acid Black 48 And Coffee Wastewater By Low-Cost Adsorbents, Yung-Tse Hung

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

© 2020, Kaunas University of Technology. All rights reserved. Removal of synthetic dyes from wastewater is essential both from the environmental and human health point of view. A small concentration of synthetic dyes can reduce water transparency and consequently influence photosynthesis and alter aquatic ecosystems. Acid black 48 is an Azo dye that falls under the category of synthetic dyes used in the textile industry. With dyes, coffee wastewater has high chemical oxygen demand (COD) that can affect dissolved oxygen (DO) in surface waters. A mixture of wastes in surface waters creates a need to investigate the efficiency of existing …

Application Of Biochar Derived From Pyrolysis Of Waste Fiberboard On Tetracycline Adsorption In Aqueous Solution, Deliang Xu, Yaxuan Gao, Zixiang Lin, Wenran Gao, Hong Zhang, Karnowo Karnowo, Xun Hu, Hongqi Sun, Syed S. A. Syed-Hassan, Shu Zhang

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

In this study, biochars derived from waste fiberboard biomass were applied in tetracycline (TC) removal in aqueous solution. Biochar samples were prepared by slow pyrolysis at 300, 500, and 800°C, and were characterized by ultimate analysis, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), etc. The effects of ionic strength (0–1.0 mol/L of NaCl), initial TC concentration (2.5–60 ppm), biochar dosage (1.5–2.5 g/L), and initial pH (2–10) were systemically determined. The results present that biochar prepared at 800°C (BC800) generally possesses the highest aromatization degree and surface area with abundant pyridinic N (N-6) and …

Indonesia Natural Mineral For Heavy Metal Adsorption: A Review, Grandprix T. M. Kadja, Moh Mualliful Ilmi

Journal of Environmental Science and Sustainable Development

Indonesia has abundant mineral resources used as natural adsorbent materials for the absorption of heavy metal. Among these are natural zeolites, clay, and ashes. These natural materials showed high performance adsorption capacity with respects to their low cost and high availability. Several research reports had been published for studying the performance of the natural materials as adsorbent of several heavy metals i.e., Hg, Pb, Fe, Cd, Cr, Zn, Ni, and Cu by examining the effect of various factors, including pH, contact time, initial concentration, temperature, and dosage. Furthermore, to determine the adsorption rate, mechanism, and efficiency of natural materials in …

Lignocellulosic Biomass Derived Activated Carbon For Energy Storage And Adsorption, Changle Jiang

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Lignocellulosic biomass has been converted to hierarchical porous carbon materials which possess macro-, meso- and micro-pores. The natural structure of porous lignocellulosic structure was preserved during activation with further developed porosity by the activation. The activated carbon can be well applied to electrochemical double layer capacitor for transportation storage of ions as well as adsorbent materials for metal ion removal from wastewater.

The first chapter of this dissertation presents an introduction of biomass derived carbon and its applications. In the second chapter, both direct and indirect activation methods using carbon dioxide were adopted in this study. The results show that …

Escherichia Coli Removal From Stormwater Using Steel Chips Filter, Peng Dai

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Media filtration has received increasing attention as an effective technology that can facilitate the removal of particles and dissolved pollutions in the stormwater. However, most traditional media filtration systems are generally ineffective in removing bacteria, causing pollution of groundwater and receiving surface water. In this study, recycled steel chips were evaluated as low-cost filter materials for bacterial removal from stormwater. Laboratory column experiments were conducted to evaluate the impact of steel chips particle size, flow rate, initial E.coli concentration, pH, natural organic matter (NOM), steady and intermittent flow on E.coli removal. The results showed that E.coli removal decreased from 99.4% …

Ion Exchange For Nutrient Recovery Coupled With Biosolids-Derived Biochar Pretreatment To Remove Micropollutants, Yiran Tong, Lee K. Kimbell, Anna Avila, Patrick J. Mcnamara, Brooke K. Mayer

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Wastewater, especially anaerobic treatment effluent, contains high ammonia nitrogen (NH₄-N) and inorganic orthophosphate (PO₄-P), which necessitate additional treatment to meet stringent discharge regulations. Ion exchange regeneration is a process that can be adopted for not only removing but also recovering nutrients. However, recovering nutrients by ion exchange from nutrient-rich effluents that also contain micropollutants (which typically pass through anaerobic treatment as well) may result in subsequent problems, since micropollutants could end up in ion exchange effluent, regenerant, or recovered fertilizer products. Micropollutant removal by a nonselective adsorbent, such as biosolids-derived biochar, before nutrient recovery processes would …

Biosolids-Derived Biochar For Triclosan Removal From Wastewater, Lee K. Kimbell, Yiran Tong, Brooke K. Mayer, Patrick J. Mcnamara

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Micropollutants, including antibiotics, hormones, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products, are discharged into the environment with liquid and solid effluent streams from water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs). The objective of this research was to determine whether biosolids-derived biochar (BS-biochar) could be used as a sorbent in continuous flow-through columns to remove micropollutants as a polishing step for wastewater treatment. Triclosan (TCS) was selected as a representative micropollutant due to frequent detection in liquid effluents, residual biosolids, and surface waters. Bench-scale column experiments were conducted to determine the effect of flow rate and competition due to the presence of other organic micropollutants …