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Biochar

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Full-Text Articles in Environmental Engineering

Biochar For Heavy Metal Removal In Water: Opportunities, Challenges, And Sustainable Solutions, Pushpita Kumkum Apr 2024

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 …


Characteristics And Hydraulic Behavior Of Adsorptive Media For Use In Permeable Reactive Barriers, Shelby Rocha Jun 2023

Characteristics And Hydraulic Behavior Of Adsorptive Media For Use In Permeable Reactive Barriers, Shelby Rocha

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Cargill ditch is located on the property of Se7en Wetlands, a 1600-ac treatment wetland system in Lakeland, Polk County, Florida. The Se7en Wetlands property was previously utilized for phosphate mining prior to the construction of the system. Nonpoint nutrient sources derived from remnants of abandoned phosphate mines – known as “legacy phosphorus” – become mobilized by stormwater runoff and impair surface water bodies by promoting harmful algal blooms (HABs). Thus, the Cargill ditch likely conveys nutrient rich flow resulting from legacy phosphorus and is thought to be one contributing factor in the occurrence of HABs within the treatment wetland …


Evaluation For Using Expended Bioelectrochemical Systems As Soil Amendments For Improved Corn Plant Growth And A Drought Resistant Soil., Jackson Lee Sauers Dec 2022

Evaluation For Using Expended Bioelectrochemical Systems As Soil Amendments For Improved Corn Plant Growth And A Drought Resistant Soil., Jackson Lee Sauers

Theses and Dissertations

A long-held practice is to mix agricultural soil with a soil amendment to improve growing conditions in crops. A common soil amendment is biosolids produced from both municipal and dairy wastewater due to the macro- and micronutrients within it. Both the agricultural and wastewater industries are participating in the Circular Economy concept (CEC). Two experiments explored using expended bioelectrochemical systems (BES) that treated either synthetic dairy wastewater (DWW) or synthetic municipal wastewater (SWW) as soil amendments to improve corn plant growth when treated with three different nutrient treatments: 100%- 50%- and 0% Hoagland Nutrient Solutions. Biochar and used terracotta clay …


Modified Biosand Filtration Using Aluminum Hydroxide Filter Media To Enhance Fluoride Removal, Joshelyn Guimaray Jun 2022

Modified Biosand Filtration Using Aluminum Hydroxide Filter Media To Enhance Fluoride Removal, Joshelyn Guimaray

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There are over 20 countries whose citizens consume groundwater containing high levels of fluoride, including Nigeria, Mexico, India, China, and Ghana, which all have major health crises when it comes to the safety of their drinking water. Minerals like fluorite contain fluoride which is often found in groundwater aquifers. The minerals release fluoride into the groundwater. Per the World Health Organization (WHO) standard, the maximum contaminant limit for fluoride consumption should be less than 1.5 mg/L. Chronic exposure of elevated levels of fluoride can cause people to suffer debilitating health effects, such as dental and skeletal fluorosis. Dental fluorosis causes …


Biochar Application In Anaerobic Digestion Of Food Waste For Inhibition Mitigation And Biogas Production Improvement, Mehrsa Hosseini Jan 2022

Biochar Application In Anaerobic Digestion Of Food Waste For Inhibition Mitigation And Biogas Production Improvement, Mehrsa Hosseini

Major Papers

The production of large quantities of food waste due to population growth is a serious global issue. Improper management of food waste and the deficiency of appropriate administration approaches have adversely affected the environment and society. Traditional methods of disposal (i.e., landfill) and treatment (i.e., incineration and composting) are not considered efficient for food waste management. Therefore, an efficient and cost-effective alternative is anaerobic digestion (AD), a dual-purpose and mature technology for digesting and converting food waste into renewable energy and valuable chemicals. However, Anaerobic digestion (AD) as an environmentally friendly and widely applied technology still faces some challenges, including …


Per- And Polyfluoroalkyl Substances Mitigation From Contaminated Groundwater Using Halophyte And Cow Bone Biochars, Bailey Papes Jan 2022

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 …


Development Of A Numerical Process Model For Adsorbent-Amended Constructed Wetlands, Lillian Mulligan Jun 2021

Development Of A Numerical Process Model For Adsorbent-Amended Constructed Wetlands, Lillian Mulligan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is a need for alternative methods for municipal landfill leachate treatment as the high concentrations of pollutants in leachate interfere with processes at publicly owned treatment works (POTWs). Constructed wetlands (CWs) have been shown to be a sustainable alternative with good removal efficiencies for chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonia nitrogen (NH4+). The addition of an adsorbent media, such as zeolite and biochar, to CWs to further enhance removal efficiencies has been investigated in recent years. However, the long-term effects of zeolite and biochar addition to CWs is not well known. A model could be a useful tool to …


Production Of Engineered Carbons From Secondary Waste Streams For Environmental Applications, Ghazaleh Chegini Mar 2021

Production Of Engineered Carbons From Secondary Waste Streams For Environmental Applications, Ghazaleh Chegini

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Pyrolysis and activation were used in this thesis to produce biochar and activated carbon from industrial digestate and hydrochar materials. In the first part of thesis, digestate derived biochars were obtained by varying the pyrolysis heating rate (10, 80, 100, 200, >1000 °C·min-1) and temperature (300 to 600 °C) to modify their soil-related characteristics (i.e., nutrient leachability, carbon stability, and heavy metal adsorptive capacity). The biochar produced at a temperature of 500 °C and heating rate of 10 °C·min-1 was also activated under using CO2 at 800 °C with different holding times (0.5-2 h). Results indicated …


Enhanced Fluoride Removal In Biosand Filters Using Aluminum Oxide Coated Media And Modified Filter Design, Madison Leigh Rice Mar 2020

Enhanced Fluoride Removal In Biosand Filters Using Aluminum Oxide Coated Media And Modified Filter Design, Madison Leigh Rice

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In 2010, the UN formally stated that access to safe drinking water and sanitation is a human right. Yet, one in three people globally do not have access to safe drinking water. Contaminated drinking water can negatively impact the health of consumers. This is a challenge that disproportionally affects developing regions, where limited access to resources exacerbates the problem. One drinking water contaminant of concern is fluoride. Fluoride is often added in low concentrations to drinking water to enhance consumers’ dental health. However, when water with high concentrations of fluoride is consumed frequently, it can have negative health effects, such …


Design Of Efficient Carbon-Based Adsorbents For The Removal Of Organic And Inorganic Water Contaminants, Sayedeh Soroosh Mortazavian Dehkordi Dec 2019

Design Of Efficient Carbon-Based Adsorbents For The Removal Of Organic And Inorganic Water Contaminants, Sayedeh Soroosh Mortazavian Dehkordi

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Granular activated carbon (AC) and biochar (BC) are two carbon-based adsorbents commonly used for water and wastewater treatment. However, these adsorbents have drawbacks that suppress their aqueous contaminants removal efficiency. Their major disadvantages are that AC has low selectivity and reusability potential, and BC has a hydrophobic nature.

The scope of this dissertation is to enhance the performance of commonly-used carbon-based adsorbents for the removal of organic and inorganic water contaminants and to understand the interactive mechanism of contaminants’ ions/molecules with adsorbents. Hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) and trichloroethylene (TCE) are two types of inorganic and organic water contaminants, respectively, which are …


Removal Efficiencies, Uptake Mechanisms And Competitive Effects Of Copper And Zinc In Various Stormwater Filter Media, Emily Heleva-Ponaski Sep 2018

Removal Efficiencies, Uptake Mechanisms And Competitive Effects Of Copper And Zinc In Various Stormwater Filter Media, Emily Heleva-Ponaski

Dissertations and Theses

Polluted stormwater, if not treated, can compromise water quality throughout our hydrologic cycle, adversely affecting aquatic ecosystems. Common stormwater pollutants, copper and zinc, have been identified as primary toxicants in multiple freshwater and marine environments. For small-scale generators, stormwater management can be cumbersome and implementation of common BMPs impractical thus catch basins are popular though not the most environmentally conscious and sustainable option. This study aims to characterize the potential of a mobile media filter operation for the treatment and on-site recycling of catch basin stormwater. The removal capacities of various commercially available filter media (e.g. a common perlite; Earthlite™, …


Wastewater Refining And Reuse And City-Level Water Decision Making, Ahmed Abuhussein Apr 2018

Wastewater Refining And Reuse And City-Level Water Decision Making, Ahmed Abuhussein

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Direct discharge of treated and untreated wastewater to natural surface water bodies, including rivers and lakes, is generally known to produce adverse environmental impacts that have been of concern for the past 10–15 years, particularly in the Great Lakes basin. Examples of these impacts include eutrophication and the emergence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs). Advancement in wastewater treatment plant operations alone may not be feasible to meet the 2016–2019 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy (FSDS), especially on phosphorus reduction targets. Diverting treated wastewater to land could present a multibarrier approach for integrated PPCPs management, and could also shift current …


Biosolids-Derived Biochar For Micropollutant Removal From Wastewater, Lee Kimbell Apr 2017

Biosolids-Derived Biochar For Micropollutant Removal From Wastewater, Lee Kimbell

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Trace organic compounds including antibiotics, hormones, pharmaceuticals and personal care products are discharged to the environment with liquid and solid effluent streams from water resource recovery facilities. These compounds are referred to as micropollutants, and can have negative impacts in receiving waters. Current wastewater treatment processes are not specifically designed to remove micropollutants, and many of these compounds are recalcitrant to conventional treatment technologies. Triclosan (TCS) was selected as a representative micropollutant in this study due to frequent detection in liquid effluents, residual biosolids, and surface waters. Pyrolysis - the thermochemical decomposition of organic matter at elevated temperatures in the …


Removal Of Target Ppcps From Secondary Effluent Using Aops And Novel Adsorbents, Venkateswara Reddy Kandlakuti Aug 2016

Removal Of Target Ppcps From Secondary Effluent Using Aops And Novel Adsorbents, Venkateswara Reddy Kandlakuti

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Atenolol (β-blocker), Clofibric Acid (Lipid regulators) and Diclofenac (Anti-inflammatory) are the drugs widely used and reported to have adverse effects on fish and other organisms. These drugs are found at trace levels in lakes, rivers and sewage treatment plants and conventional treatment plants are ineffective to eliminate these at those levels. A high resolution LC-MS/MS was used to quantify these drugs at low levels. Various advanced oxidation methods were used for the present research to eliminate these drugs from secondary effluent. Complete removal of PPCPs was achieved by synthesizing immobilized TiO2 on a stainless steel mesh and using a combination …


Possible Sources And Impacts Of Biochar Water Extractable Organic Compounds On Aquatic Microorganisms, Cameron Russell Smith Jul 2016

Possible Sources And Impacts Of Biochar Water Extractable Organic Compounds On Aquatic Microorganisms, Cameron Russell Smith

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses & Dissertations

Smokeless biomass pyrolysis with application of biochar as a soil amendment could be a significant approach for carbon sequestration to possibly control climate change for energy and environmental sustainability. If biochar were to be utilized as a soil amendment and a carbon sequestration agent at Gt C scales, the release of potentially toxic compounds into soils and associated hydrological systems, through soil rainwater runoff and leaching, might have negative consequences, in both agro-ecosystems and aquatic environmental systems. Therefore, the main focus of this dissertation was to study the sources and chemical composition of biochar water extractable (soluble) organic compounds and …


Removal Of Perfluorooctanoic Acid From Water Using Primitive, Conventional And Novel Carbonaceous Sorbent Materials, Christopher K. Brown Mar 2016

Removal Of Perfluorooctanoic Acid From Water Using Primitive, Conventional And Novel Carbonaceous Sorbent Materials, Christopher K. Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS), like perfluorooctanoic acid, have been used for the last 50 years in a wide variety of industrial processes and consumer-based products, including polymer additives, lubricants, fire retardants and suppressants, pesticides, and surfactants (Buck et al. 2015). The Department of Defense (DoD) has used PFAS-based Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) at fire training facilities and aircraft hangars. AFFF has contaminated approximately 600 sites classified as fire training facilities with PFAS (Huang, 2013).

This study focused on testing the most likely carbonaceous adsorbent compounds to remediate PFAS-contaminated sites on Air Force installations. Batch tests were performed to determine the …


Pyrolysis For Estrogens Removal From Wastewater Solids, Thomas C. Hoffman Apr 2015

Pyrolysis For Estrogens Removal From Wastewater Solids, Thomas C. Hoffman

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Wastewater treatment processes are not designed to remove estrogenic micropollutants and therefore when wastewater biosolids are land applied estrogenic micropollutants are discharged to the environment. Release of estrogenic compounds has deleterious effects on the terrestrial environment. Public concern stemming from micropollutants may reduce the value of biosolids which are important to water resource reclamation facilities (WRRF) as by-products. The objective of this research was to evaluate pyrolysis, the partial decomposition of organic material in an oxygen-deprived system under high temperatures, as a sustainable solution to remove estrogenic compounds from biosolids while producing a useable soil conditioner called biochar. Batch pyrolysis …


Characterization Of Two Biochars Derived From Horse Muck And Their Ability To Reduce Pathogen Transport In Soil, David Griffith Jan 2015

Characterization Of Two Biochars Derived From Horse Muck And Their Ability To Reduce Pathogen Transport In Soil, David Griffith

Theses and Dissertations--Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

Biochars have been created and characterized from a variety livestock manure biomass including poultry, dairy, and swine. However, no research has been conducted on the physical and chemical makeup of biochar pyrolyzed from horse muck. Two horse muck derived biochars containing either straw (HS) or woodchip (HW) bedding were pyrolyzed at 700°C and characterized for their physical and chemical properties. Tests revealed both biochars had high alkalinity, moderate specific conductivity, and low surface area as compared to other biochars in the literature. HS contained more mineral structures than HW. Scanning electron microscopy presented differences in particle shape, size, and presence …