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Screening of sugarcane bagasse-derived biochar for phenol adsorption: optimization study using response surface methodology

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Abstract

The utilization of biochar, prepared from the agricultural biomass, is one of the economic approaches. To assess the ability of biochar as an adsorbent, sugarcane bagasse-derived biochar was utilized for the removal of phenol from aqueous solution. Phenol, an industrial discharge and a ubiquitous organic pollutant, was chosen as the model compound to determine the adsorption capacity of sugarcane bagasse-derived biochar. The sugarcane bagasse was pyrolyzed at 400, 600, and 800 °C under an N2 atmosphere. Among all the three raw biochars, the biochar obtained at 600 °C showed maximum removal efficiency, 74.2%. Based on higher efficiency, SB-600 biochar was further chemically treated with nitric acid (HNO3) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) to enhance its adsorption capacity. Sugarcane bagasse-derived magnetic biochar was also fabricated using the pre-pyrolysis modification. Maximum removal (96.1%) efficiency was observed in the case of HNO3-treated calcined biochar compared to the other treated biochars. Adsorption parameters of the calcined-acid treated biochar were optimized through response surface methodology. The maximum adsorption capacity of the calcined-acid treated biochar was 41.3 mg/g.

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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article (and its supplementary information files).

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Acknowledgements

The authors sincerely acknowledge the Director, CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP), Dehradun, for his constant support. The authors very much appreciate the support of the Analytical Science Division (ASD) of CSIR-IIP. The financial support of the UGC, New Delhi, India, is also gratefully acknowledged by the author K. Saini

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Thermo Catalytic Process Area (TPA), Material Resource Efficiency Division (MRED), CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP), Dehradun, Uttarakhand, 248005, India

    K. Saini, B. Biswas, A. Kumar, J. Kumar & T. Bhaskar

  2. Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, 210002, Uttar Pradesh, India

    K. Saini, B. Biswas, A. Kumar, J. Kumar & T. Bhaskar

  3. Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology - Delhi (IITD), New Delhi, 110016, India

    A. Sahoo

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  1. K. Saini
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  2. B. Biswas
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  3. A. Kumar
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  4. A. Sahoo
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  5. J. Kumar
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  6. T. Bhaskar
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Contributions

K.S. was involved in investigation, methodology, formal analysis, writing—original draft; B.B. helped in data curation, methodology, formal analysis; A.K. contributed to investigation, formal analysis; A.S. was involved in data curation, formal analysis; J.K. helped in formal analysis, resources; T.B. helped in supervision, writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to T. Bhaskar.

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Editorial responsibility: J Aravind.

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Saini, K., Biswas, B., Kumar, A. et al. Screening of sugarcane bagasse-derived biochar for phenol adsorption: optimization study using response surface methodology. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 19, 8797–8810 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-021-03637-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-021-03637-z

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