Fe-Al bimetallic oxides functionalized-biochar via ball milling for enhanced adsorption of tetracycline in water

The clusters formed by modified materials on its surface makes the application of functionalized biochars in adsorption face a great challenge. Here, a facile ball milling technology was innovatively proposed to tailor Fe-Al oxides-laden bagasse biochar to fabricate a novel adsorbent (BMFA-BC). Benefited from the increased exposure of Fe-Al oxides and, more importantly, enhanced functional groups by ball milling, the adsorption capacity of BMFA-BC for aqueous tetracycline reached up to 116.6 mg g-1 at 298 K. And the adsorption performance was temperature-dependent. Characterization analysis, batch sorption (thermodynamics, kinetics, isotherms, chem-ical factors) as well as data modeling illustrated that this superior adsorption ability could be attributed to 7C-7C conjugation, H-bonding, complexation as well as pore filling. BMFA-BC displayed good adsorption capacity in multiple aqueous environments. The excellent regeneration ability, magnetic susceptibility ensured its viability for sustainable pollutants removal. These superiorities revealed that BMFA-BC was a suitable sorbent for anti-biotics elimination.

Automated summary

This study proposes a novel adsorbent (BMFA-BC) by using a facile ball milling technology to tailor Fe-Al oxides-laden bagasse biochar. The increased exposure of Fe-Al oxides and enhanced functional groups by ball milling result in a high adsorption capacity of BMFA-BC for aqueous tetracycline at 298 K, reaching up to 116.6 mg g-1. The adsorption performance is influenced by temperature.