Journal Article

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2021.105305

Wu, Y., Zhang, N., & de Lannoy, C. F. (2021). Upcycling wildfire-impacted boreal peats into porous carbons that efficiently remove phenolic micropollutants. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 9(4), 105305. (in press). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2021.105305

Activated carbons have been widely used for water treatment due to their large surface area and structural stability. Their high cost has motivated the development of sustainable bio-based sorbents. However, their industrial acceptance within the water industry is limited by lower surface areas and poorer adsorptive capacities as compared with commercial sorbents. We herein report a green, high performance porous carbon produced from boreal peats for organic micropollutant removal. Boreal peatlands are increasingly damaged due to climate change-induced wildfires and droughts, which lead to increased run-off and impeded forest regrowth. Fire-impacted peatland soils therefore were excavated and converted into value-added porous carbons through ZnCl2 activation at low temperature (400 – 600 °C). These products have significantly higher surface areas (> 1377 m2/g) than commercial activated carbon Norit GSX (965 m2/g). Adsorption of p-nitrophenol, a micropollutant, onto the porous carbons is efficient, and superior to that of Norit GSX and most sorbents reported in the literature. Adsorption mainly occurred through multi-layer chemisorption and was impacted by the electron donor-acceptor complexes mechanism, π-π interactions and steric effects. Because of the massive environmental and economic benefits, peat porous carbons are strong candidates for use in large-scale water treatment facilities.

Published

BWF

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2021.105305