Application of functionalized biochar for adsorption of organic pollutants from environmental media: Synthesis strategies, removal mechanisms and outlook

Biochar (BC) is attracting increasing concerns on the scavenging of toxic contaminants from water because of its low-cost and environmental-friendly properties, however, the adsorption performance of pristine BC for common organic contaminants. Consequently, adopting available modification methods to strengthen the uptake per-formance of BC is necessary, unfortunately, there are few summaries on various functionalization techniques of BC with corresponding mechanisms on removing organic contaminants. Herein, this review aims to describe (i) the preparation methods of pristine BC and the influence of different pyrolysis parameters; (ii) various modifi-cation techniques for BC including liquid modification, gas modification, ball milling modification, metal nanoparticles loading, and near-nature BC-based immobilized materials; (iii) the applications of functionalized BC on organic pollutants removal with related adsorption mechanisms (iv) crucial factors (e.g. solution pH, contact time, and co-existing ions); influencing the removal process of functionalized BC on organic contami-nants with application potential of modified BC as an adsorbent in environmental fields; (v) some useful and constructive proposals to improve the practical application of functionalized BC in future research. This review advanced the comprehensive understanding of application of functionalized BC as effective adsorbent with low-cost and high-performance properties for the remediation of contaminated water.

Automated summary

This review provides an overview of the preparation methods and modification techniques of biochar (BC), as well as its application in removing organic contaminants from water. It discusses the factors influencing the adsorption performance of functionalized BC and proposes suggestions for future research to improve its practical application.