%0 Journal Article
%T Agricultural waste biochar after potassium hydroxide activation: Its adsorbent evaluation and potential mechanism.
%A Guan J
%A Zhu M
%A Zhou J
%A Luo L
%A Fernando Romanholo Ferreira L
%A Zhang X
%A Liu J
%J Bioresour Technol
%V 389
%N 0
%D 2023 Dec 27
%M 37769976
%F 11.889
%R 10.1016/j.biortech.2023.129793
%X The agricultural waste (Goji branch) was pyrolyzed into biochars with one-step potassium hydroxide (KOH) activation under different processing conditions. The biochars were first characterized in structural features and functional groups and then evaluated for adsorptive performance with methylene blue as a model pollutant. Different adsorption models were applied to fit the adsorption process and reveal the possible mechanisms. The adsorption capacity was found to strongly correlate (R2 = 0.9642) with the surface area of the biochars, among which biochar K50%W29%C-700 (pyrolysis at 700 °C in the presence of 50 % KOH and 29 % water) possessed the largest surface area (1378 m2/g) and exhibited the highest adsorption capacity (769 mg/g) compared to its homologous products. Biochar K50%W29%C-700 also showed excellent recyclability and potent adsorption capacity toward other common organic pollutants. The results suggest that traces of water in agricultural wastes could significantly intensify the KOH-involved activation efficiency of producing porous biochar.