Treatment of Real Wastewater from Organic Contaminants by Using Biochar

In a number of water use schemes (water and wastewater treatment), physicochemical treatment methods, in particular adsorption, have been successfully used. However, widespread adoption of these methods is hindered by the high cost of sorbents. One of the promising solutions to these problem of sorption treatment is the use of biochar. Due to its high specific surface area, well-developed porous structure, and surface functionality, biochar has been used as inexpensive adsorbent. The purpose of the laboratory experiments is to determine the sorption properties of biochar obtained from pine – sorption capacity, sorption rate, and purification effect – while removing organic contaminants from real paper mill wastewater. The sorption properties of biochar were studied under static and dynamic conditions, varying the size of the fractions, and processing time. The sorption characteristics of biochar of all the studied fractions were established and it was shown that the most effective sorbent in removing organic contaminants is the 1-biochar’s fraction of (sorption capacity of 11.9 mg of COD per of sorbent). The data obtained enable theoretically substantiate the presence of certain functional groups on the surface of the researched biochar, as well as to develop technological regimes for the treatment of natural and waste waters of a certain composition with its help.