Adsorptive Behavior of Cu[sup.2+] and Benzene in Single and Binary Solutions onto Alginate Composite Hydrogel Beads Containing Pitch Pine-Based Biochar

• Published in: Polymers Vol. 14; no. 17
• Main Authors: Park, Saerom, Lee, Jeong Woo, Kim, Ji Eun, Kang, Gwangnam, Kim, Hyung Joo, Choi, Yong-Keun, Lee, Sang Hyun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 01.09.2022
• Subjects: Benzene; Heavy metals; Herbicides; Volatile organic compounds; South Korea
• ISSN: 2073-4360; 2073-4360
• DOI: 10.3390/polym14173468

In this study, we prepared alginate composite hydrogel beads containing various compositions of biochar produced from pitch pine (Pinus rigida) for the removal of Cu[sup.2+] and benzene from model pollutant solutions. The properties of the alginate/biochar hydrogel beads were evaluated using scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and Brunauer-Emmet-Teller analyses. Adsorption behavior of alginate/biochar hydrogel beads indicated that the adsorption capacities for Cu[sup.2+] (28.6-72.7 mg/g) were enhanced with increasing alginate content, whereas the adsorption capacities for benzene (20.0-52.8 mg/g) were improved with increasing biochar content. The alginate/biochar hydrogel beads exhibited similar adsorption capacities for Cu[sup.2+] and benzene in the concurrent system with Cu[sup.2+] and benzene compared to those in a single pollutant system. Adsorption kinetics and isotherm studies of the alginate/biochar hydrogel beads followed the pseudo-second-order model (r[sup.2] = 0.999 for Cu[sup.2+], and r[sup.2] = 0.999 for benzene), and Langmuir model (r[sup.2] = 0.999 for Cu[sup.2+], and r[sup.2] = 0.995 for benzene). In addition, alginate/biochar hydrogel beads (containing 1 and 4% biochar) exhibited high reusability (>80%). Therefore, alginate/biochar hydrogel beads can be applied as adsorbents for the removal of multiple pollutants with different properties from wastewater.