Recent advances in metal-organic framework membranes for water treatment: A review.

Abstract Biochar shows significant potential to serve as a globally applicable material to remediate water and soil owing to the extensive availability of feedstocks and conducive physio-chemical surface characteristics. This review aims to highlight biochar production technologies, characteristics of biochar, and the latest advancements in immobilizing and eliminating heavy metal ions and organic pollutants in soil and water. Pyrolysis temperature, heat transfer rate, residence time, and type of feedstock are critical influential parameters. Biochar’s efficacy in managing contaminants relies on the pore size distribution, surface groups, and ion-exchange capacity. The molecular composition and physical architecture of biochar may be crucial when practically applied to water and soil. In general, biochar produced at relatively high pyrolysis temperatures can effectively manage organic pollutants via increasing surface area, hydrophobicity and microporosity. Biochar generated at lower temperatures is deemed to be more suitable for removing polar organic and inorganic pollutants through oxygen-containing functional groups, precipitation and electrostatic attraction. This review also presents the existing obstacles and future research direction related to biochar-based materials in immobilizing organic contaminants and heavy metal ions in effluents and soil. Graphical Abstract 

/pdf/biochar-for-the-removal-of-contaminants-from-soil-and-water-23l6y616.pdf

Biochar for the removal of contaminants from soil and water: a review

Abstract With social progress and industrial development, heavy metal pollution in water and soils environment is becoming more serious. Although biochar is a low-cost and environmentally friendly adsorbent for heavy metal ions, its adsorption and immobilization efficiency still need to be improved. As an upgraded version of biochar, modified biochar has attracted extensive attention in the scientific community. This review summarized the recent research progress on the treatment methods on heavy metal pollutants in water and soils using biochar. The features and advantages of biochar modification techniques such as physical modification, chemical modification, biological modification and other categories of biochar were discussed. The mechanism of removing heavy metals from soil and water by modified biochar was summarized. It was found that biochar had better performance after modification, which provided higher surface areas and more functional groups, and had enough binding sites to combine heavy metal ions. Biochar is a very promising candidate for removing heavy metals in environment. Furthermore, some high valent metal ions could be reduced to low valent metals, such as Cr(VI) reduction to Cr(III), and form precipitates on biochar by in-situ sorption-reduction-precipitation strategy. However, it is still the direction of efforts to develop high-efficiency modified biochar with low-cost, high sorption capacity, high photocatalytic performance, environmentally friendly and no secondary pollution in future. 

/pdf/modified-biochar-synthesis-and-mechanism-for-removal-of-1mu7j9gw.pdf

Modified biochar: synthesis and mechanism for removal of environmental heavy metals

Recent advances in applications of low-cost adsorbents for the removal of heavy metals from water: A critical review

It is important to explore and develop multifunctional phase change composites with high latent-heat capacity and photothermal conversion capability. A novel ultralight and flexible carbon foam (CF)-based phase change composite was fabricated by encapsulating n-eicosane into a CF skeleton that had been precoated with titanium(III) oxide (Ti2O3) nanoparticles (NPs). Morphological structures, as well as the properties of leakage-proof, thermal energy storage, temperature regulation, and photothermal conversion, of the fabricated phase change composites were investigated. The results indicated that the flexible CF skeleton derived from melamine foam (MF) through stabilization in air followed by carbonization in nitrogen was highly porous, which ensured excellent mechanical support and large mass ratio of n-eicosane for the composites. The loading percentage of n-eicosane as high as 84% which acted as thermal storage unit guaranteed high latent-heat capacity and good temperature regulation property of the composite; the melting/crystallization temperatures and enthalpies of the corresponding composite was 36.4/33.7 °C and 200.1/200.6 kJ·kg-1, respectively. The CF skeleton modified with Ti2O3 NPs endowed the fabricated phase change composites with enhanced leakage-proof property, photothermal conversion capability, superior thermal reliability, and temperature regulation ability. Therefore, the resultant phase change composites are believed to have promising and potential applications in solar thermal-energy storage, waste-heat recovery, and infrared stealth of military targets, and so forth.

Ultralight and Flexible Carbon Foam-Based Phase Change Composites with High Latent-Heat Capacity and Photothermal Conversion Capability.

Biochar (BC) has exhibited a great potential to remove water contaminants due to its wide availability of raw materials, high surface area, developed pore structure, and low cost. However, the application of BC for water remediation has many limitations. Driven by the intense desire of overcoming unfavorable factors, a growing number of researchers have carried out to produce BC-based composite materials, which not only improved the physicochemical properties of BC, but also obtained a new composite material which combined the advantages of BC and other materials. This article reviewed previous researches on BC and BC-based composite materials, and discussed in terms of the preparation methods, the physicochemical properties, the performance of contaminant removal, and underlying adsorption mechanisms. Then the recent research progress in the removal of inorganic and organic contaminants by BC and BC-based materials was also systematically reviewed. Although BC-based composite materials have shown high performance in inorganic or organic pollutants removal, the potential risks (such as stability and biological toxicity) still need to be noticed and further study. At the end of this review, future prospects for the synthesis and application of BC and BC-based materials were proposed. This review will help the new researchers systematically understand the research progress of BC and BC-based composite materials in environmental remediation.

/pdf/review-of-organic-and-inorganic-pollutants-removal-by-50cpznysh0.pdf

Review of organic and inorganic pollutants removal by biochar and biochar-based composites

Stimuli-responsive materials with switchable wettability have promising practical applications in oil/water separation. A novel CO2-responsive cotton fabric for controlled oil/water separation was fabricated based on mussel-inspired reaction and polymerized with 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA). As expected, the modified fabric exhibited switchable hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity after CO2/N2 alternation, and it could be used for gravity-driven CO2-controlled oil/water separation. Water was selectively penetrated through the fabric and separated from oil after treating by CO2. A reversed wettability could be generated through simply treated with N2. It is expected that the as-prepared fabrics could be applied in smart oil/water separation due to the attractive properties of CO2-switchable system.

Smart Cotton Fabric with CO 2 -Responsive Wettability for Controlled Oil/Water Separation

A straightforward approach was proposed to modify cotton fabric for oil/water separation based on musselinspired reaction. The poly(DMA-Octadecyl acrylate) was designed to contain key chemical constituents present in mussel adhesive proteins by free radical polymerization of dopamine hydrochloride and octadecyl acrylate, which strongly adsorbed to fabric substrates, providing a special surface for fabric. The chemical structure, surface topography, and surface wettability of the fabric were characterized. The results showed that as-prepared cotton fabric displayed a high CA of >150° when dripped water droplets were on the modified fabric surface, and the oil contact angle (OCA) was close to 0°, it had excellent potential to be used in practical applications and has created a new method of fabric modification for oil/water separation.

Fabrication of hydrophobic/oleophilic cotton fabric by mussel-inspired chemistry for oil/water separation

Effects of magnetic field on selenite removal by sulfidated zero valent iron under aerobic conditions.

Oil/water separation polyurethane sponge with hierarchically structured surface similar to the chemical/topological structures of lotus leaf has been successfully developed by combining mussel-inspired one-step copolymerization approach. The chemical structure, surface topography, and surface wettability of the sponge were characterized by FTIR, SEM, and contact angle experiments, respectively. The results showed that as-prepared sponge exhibited high oil absorption rate because of the expansion in oil and collapse in water of the polymer molecular brushes. Meanwhile, it also possessed high absorption capacity (20 times of the self-weight), high oil retention (93.7%), and good recyclability. It had excellent potential in practical applications.

Xu Meng

Papers

Review of organic and inorganic pollutants removal by biochar and biochar-based composites

Smart Cotton Fabric with CO 2 -Responsive Wettability for Controlled Oil/Water Separation

Fabrication of hydrophobic/oleophilic cotton fabric by mussel-inspired chemistry for oil/water separation

Effects of magnetic field on selenite removal by sulfidated zero valent iron under aerobic conditions.

Fabrication of superhydrophobic sponge with hierarchical structure and application for oil/water separation