Beryllium adsorption from beryllium mining wastewater with novel porous lotus leaf biochar modified with PO43−/NH4+ multifunctional groups (MLLB)
Xu Zhao, Qingliang Wang, Yige Sun, Haoshuai Li, Zhiwu Lei, Boyuan Zheng, Hongyang Xia, Yucheng Su, Khan Muhammad Yaruq Ali, Hongqiang Wang, Fang Hu
Abstract
Abstract Wastewater produced in beryllium mining seriously affects ecological balance and causes great environmental pressure. We designed a novel porous lotus leaf biochar modified with PO 4 3− /NH 4 + multifunctional groups (MLLB) and used it for beryllium(Be) removal from beryllium mining wastewater. Kinetic and thermodynamic experiments showed that the adsorption capacity (Q e ) of Be with MLLB from the simulated beryllium mining wastewater could reach 40.38 g kg −1 (35 °C, pH = 5.5), and the adsorption process was spontaneous and endothermic. The dispersion coefficient K d of Be with MLLB was 2.6 × 10 4 mL g −1 , which proved that MLLB had strong selective adsorption capacity for Be. Phosphoric acid, ammonia, and hydroxyl groups on the MLLB surface would complex with Be to form Be(OH) 2 and Be(NH 4 )PO 4 complexation products, which implied that surface complexation and precipitation reactions might co-existed in the adsorption process. The above results showed that MLLB could effectively adsorb Be and prevent beryllium exposure in a beryllium mining process. Graphical Abstract