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Organic And Inorganic Contaminants Removal From Water With Engineered Biochar, Narada Bombuwala Dewage

Theses and Dissertations

Water pollution represents one of the major concerns of the modern world, after scientific and industrial development that generates hazardous organic and inorganic contaminants. Biochar (BC) has gained tremendous attention in the past decade as a cheap and efficient adsorbent for organic and inorganic contaminants from aqueous solutions. BC is considered to be a low-cost alternative to activated carbon, however, BC typically suffer performance reductions due to their low surface areas and poor mechanical properties. The main objective of this work is to develop novel biochar materials by modifying the biochar surface for the removal of organic and inorganic contaminants …

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 …

Removal Of Chromium(Vi) And Chromium(Iii) Ions From Aqueous Solution Using Bio-Char Generated From Agricultural Waste Products, Diego Fernando Gonzalez

Theses and Dissertations

Heavy metals are one of the most persistent and prevalent contaminants in the aquatic environment. The removal of chromium from aqueous solution, especially in the hexavalent form is difficult. New technologies, techniques and/or new materials have been designed in order to effectively and efficiently remove chromium from the aqueous environment. The project focuses on the comparison of the effects of pH, time, temperature, binding capacity on bio-char’ generated from agricultural waste produces vs an amino modified derivative of the bio-char. Pineapple skins were dried, ground, sieved, and pyrolyzed to produce a bio-char material. The bio-char was analyzed using FTIR to …

Design Improvements To Sulfate-Reducing Bioreactors For Mine-Influenced Stream Remediation In Cold Climates, Katrina Moreira

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Mine-influenced water (MIW), a waste water product containing heavy metals and sulfates, is a significant pollution source to waters in Montana. Implementing a low cost, passive treatment system, such as a sulfate-reducing bioreactor (SRBR), is desired for remediation of streams influenced by heavy metals in remote locations. SRBR systems operate by using organic matter and sulfate-rich water to precipitate and immobilize dissolved heavy metals. Sulfate-reducing bacteria utilize the organic matter as an electron donor to convert sulfate to sulfide, and then sulfide in the bioreactor is utilized to precipitate heavy metals. Under ideal operating conditions, SRBR systems can remove >98% …

Surface Oxygenation Of Biochar Through Ozonization For Dramatically Enhancing Cation Exchange Capacity, Matthew D. Huff, Sarah Marshall, Haitham A. Saeed, James Weifu Lee

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Background

Biochar cation exchange capacity (CEC) is a key property that is central to biochar environmental applications including the retention of soil nutrients in soil amendment and removal of certain pollutants in water-filtration applications.

Results

This study reports an innovative biochar-ozonization process that dramatically increases the CEC value of biochars by a factor of 2. The ozonized biochars also show great improvement on adsorption of methylene blue by as much as a factor of about 5. In this study, biochar samples treated with and without ozone were analyzed by means of pH and CEC assays, water field capacity measurement, elemental …

Characteristics Of Activated Carbons Produced From Herbaceous Biomass Feedstock, Oluwatosin Jerry Oginni

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Energy security and environmental protection are at the forefront of research due to the forecasted depletion of fossil fuel reserves and the growing concern of its adverse environmental impacts. The use of renewable sources for energy applications has centered on the use of biomass feedstocks and this include from herbaceous, woody, agricultural waste, forest residues and municipal wastes. The thermochemical conversion (pyrolysis) of these biomass feedstocks has potential to produce liquid fuel, a solid residue (biochar) and non-condensable gas. The biochar is primarily composed of renewable porous carbon and other inorganic compounds. The biochar is used for soil amendment, adsorption …

Adsorption Of Diclofenac Onto Different Biochar Microparticles: Dataset – Characterization And Dosage Of Biochar, Linson Lonappan, Tarek Rouissi, Satinder Kaur Brar, Mausam Verma, Rao Y. Surampalli

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

Due to its wide occurrence in water resources and toxicity, pharmaceuticals and personal care products are becoming an emerging concern throughout the world. Application of residual/waste materials for water remediation can be a good strategy in waste management as well as in waste valorization. Here in, this dataset provides information on biochar application for the removal of emerging contaminant, diclofenac from water matrices.The data presented here is an extension of there search article explaining the mechanisms of adsorption diclofenac on biochars(Lonappan et al., 2017[1]). This data article provides general information on the surface features of pine wood and pig manure …