Ahmad Munir, Rafique Muhammad Imran, Akanji Mutair A, Al-Swadi Hamed Ahmed, Usama Muhammad, Mousa Mohammed Awad, Al-Wabel Mohammad I, Al-Farraj Abdullah S F
Soil Sciences Department, College of Food & Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
Toxics. 2023 Oct 26;11(11):881. doi: 10.3390/toxics11110881.
Microplastics (MPs) are emerging environmental pollutants worldwide, posing potential health risks. Moreover, MPs may act as vectors for other contaminants and affect their fate, transport, and deposition in the environment. Therefore, efficient and economical techniques are needed for the removal of contemporary MPs and contaminants from the environment. The present research study investigated the sorption of phosphorus (P) and ammonium (NH) onto date palm waste-derived biochar (BC) from an aqueous solution in the presence of polyamide (PA) and polyethylene (PE) MPs. The BC was prepared at 600 °C, characterized for physio-chemical properties, and applied for P and NH removal via isotherm and kinetic sorption trials. The results of the sorption trials demonstrated the highest removal of NH and P was obtained at neutral pH 7. The highest P sorption (93.23 mg g) by BC was recorded in the presence of PA, while the highest NH sorption (103.76 mg g) was found with co-occurring PE in an aqueous solution. Sorption isotherm and kinetics models revealed that P and NH removal by MP-amended BC followed chemisorption, electrostatic interaction, precipitation, diffusion, and ion exchange mechanisms. Overall, co-existing PA enhanced the removal of P and NH by 66% and 7.7%, respectively, while co-existing PE increased the removal of P and NH by 55% and 30%, respectively, through the tested BC. Our findings suggested that converting date palm waste into BC could be used as a competent and economical approach to removing P and NH from contaminated water. Furthermore, microplastics such as PE and PA could assist in the removal of P and NH from contaminated water using BC.
微塑料（MPs）是全球新兴的环境污染物，存在潜在健康风险。此外，微塑料可能作为其他污染物的载体，影响其在环境中的归宿、迁移和沉积。因此，需要高效且经济的技术来从环境中去除当代微塑料和污染物。本研究调查了在聚酰胺（PA）和聚乙烯（PE）微塑料存在的情况下，磷（P）和铵（NH）从水溶液中吸附到枣椰树废弃物衍生的生物炭（BC）上的情况。生物炭在600℃下制备，对其理化性质进行了表征，并通过等温吸附和动力学吸附试验用于去除P和NH。吸附试验结果表明，在中性pH 7时，NH和P的去除率最高。在PA存在的情况下，BC对P的最高吸附量（93.23 mg/g）被记录下来，而在水溶液中同时存在PE时，对NH的最高吸附量（103.76 mg/g）被发现。吸附等温线和动力学模型表明，MP改性BC对P和NH的去除遵循化学吸附、静电相互作用、沉淀、扩散和离子交换机制。总体而言，共存的PA分别使P和NH的去除率提高了66%和7.7%，而共存的PE分别使通过测试的BC对P和NH的去除率提高了55%和30%。我们的研究结果表明，将枣椰树废弃物转化为生物炭可作为一种有效且经济的方法，用于从受污染水中去除P和NH。此外，诸如PE和PA之类的微塑料可以协助使用生物炭从受污染水中去除P和NH。
