Phosphate adsorption on lanthanum loaded biochar

To attain a low-cost and high-efficient phosphate adsorbent, lanthanum (La) loaded biochar (La-BC) prepared by a chemical precipitation method was developed. La-BC and its pristine biochar (CK-BC) were comparatively characterized using zeta potential, BET surface area, scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive spectrometer (SEM-EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The adsorption ability and the mechanisms during adsorption process for the La-BC samples were also investigated. La loaded on the surface of biochar can be termed as La-composites (such as LaOOH, LaONO3 and La(OH)3), leading to the decrease of negative charge and surface area of biochar. La-BC exhibited the high adsorption capacity to phosphate compared to CK-BC. Adsorption isotherm and adsorption kinetic studies showed that the Langmuir isotherm and second order model could well describe the adsorption process of La-BC, indicating that the adsorption was dominated by a homogeneous and chemical process. The calculated maximum adsorption capacity was as high as 46.37 mg g−1 (computed in P). Thermodynamic analysis revealed that the adsorption was spontaneous and endothermic. SEM, XRD, XPS and FT-IR analysis suggested that the multi-adsorption mechanisms including precipitation, ligand exchange and complexation interactions can be evidenced during the phosphate adsorption process by La-composites in La-BC.