Open Access

ARTICLE

Highly Efficient Adsorption of P-Xylene from Aqueous Solutions by Hierarchical Nanoporous Biochar Derived from Crab Shell

Yingna Chen¹, Hailong Zhang², Jian Guo¹, Lu Cai³, Yaning Wang⁴, Xinxin Yao⁵, Wendong Song⁶, Lili Ji^4,*

1 College of Food and Medical, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan, 316022, China
2 National-Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of Harbor Oil & Gas Storage & Transportation Technology, School of Petrochemical Engineering & Environment, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan, 316022, China
3 Donghai Science and Technology College, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan, 316000, China
4 Institute of Innovation & Application, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan, 316022, China
5 College of Naval Architecture and Mechanical-Electrical Engineering, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan, 316022, China
6 College of Petrochemical and Energy Engineering, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan, 316022, China

* Corresponding Author: Lili Ji. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Renewable Material from Agricultural Waste and By-Product and Its Applications)

Journal of Renewable Materials 2021, 9(10), 1741-1755. https://doi.org/10.32604/jrm.2021.015924

Received 24 January 2021; Accepted 16 March 2021; Issue published 12 May 2021

Abstract

The global consumption of p-xylene (PX) for the production of polymers has raised serious concerns about its impact on the environment. As various reports have shown the risks that PX could pose to human health, research into cost-effective remedial methods to remove PX from the environment has gained attraction. In this work, a hierarchical porous crab shell biochar (KCS) was synthesized, characterized, and evaluated for its effi- ciency to remove PX from aqueous solution. The characterizations of KCS, including the porous structure, surface functional group, phase structure, and surface morphology, were discussed by N₂ adsorption-desorption, FTIR, XRD, and SEM. Batch adsorption experiments showed that the maximum adsorption capacity of PX on KCS was 393 mg/g within 5 min, larger than most biological/biomass materials, mainly due to the higher specific surface area of 2046 m² /g, and abundant lipophilic functional groups. Subsequent adsorption kinetics study indicated a pseudo-second-order model which implied that the adsorption of PX was due to chemisorption. Thermodynamic parameters showed that the values of ΔH° and ΔG° were both negative, indicating that the PX adsorption process on KCS was spontaneous and exothermic. The performance of KCS in delivering a cost-effective, fast, and efficient solution for the removal of PX from aqueous solution would greatly benefit current environmental remediation efforts.

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