Ball Milling and Magnetic Modification Boosted Methylene Blue Removal by Biochar Obtained from Water Hyacinth: Efficiency, Mechanism, and Application

Abstract

Ball milling is a feasible and promising method of biochar modification that can significantly increase its adsorption ability to methylene blue (MB). This study synthesized nine biochars derived from water hyacinth under different pyrolysis temperatures and modified with ball milling and Fe3O4. The structural properties of the pristine and ball-milled magnetic biochars were investigated and employed to adsorb MB. The results showed that ball milling significantly enhanced the specific surface area, total pore volume, and C-, N-, and O-containing groups of biochars, especially in low-temperature pyrolysis biochars. The Langmuir isotherm and the pseudo-secondary kinetic model fitted well with the MB adsorption process on biochars. After ball-milled magnetic modification, the adsorption capacity of biochar at 350 °C for MB was increased to 244.6 mg g−1 (8-fold increase), owing to an increase in accessible functional groups. MB removal efficiencies by low-temperature pyrolysis biochars were easily affected by pH, whereas high-temperature pyrolysis biochars could effectively remove MB in a wide pH range. WQM1, with the high adsorption capacity and stability, provided the potential to serve as an adsorbent for MB removal. Based on DFT calculations, the chemisorption and electrostatic interactions were the primary mechanism for enhancing MB removal with ball-milled magnetic biochar at low-temperature pyrolysis, followed by H-bonding, π–π interaction, hydrophobic interaction, and pore filling.

Keywords

• ball-milled magnetic biochar
• dye
• pyrolysis temperature
• adsorption kinetics
• DFT calculation