title: Sorption of hydrophobic organic compounds to a diverse suite of carbonaceous materials with emphasis on biochar.
abstract: Carbonaceous materials like biochars are increasingly recognized as effective sorbent materials for sequestering organic pollutants. Here, we study sorption behavior of two common hydrophobic organic contaminants 2,2',5,5'-tetrachlorobiphenyl (CB52) and phenanthrene (PHE), on biochars and other carbonaceous materials (CM) produced at a wide range of conditions and temperatures from various feedstocks. The primary aim was to establish structure-reactivity relationships responsible for the observed variation in CM and biochar sorption characteristics. CM were characterized for their elemental composition, surface area, pore size distribution, aromaticity and thermal stability. Freundlich sorption coefficients for CB52 and PHE (i.e. LogK(F,CB52) and K(F,PHE), respectively) to CM showed a variation of two to three orders of magnitude, with LogK(F,CB52) ranging from 5.12 ± 0.38 to 8.01 ± 0.18 and LogK(F,PHE) from 5.18 ± 0.09 to 7.42 ± 1.09. The highest LogK(F) values were observed for the activated CM, however, non-activated biochars produced at high temperatures (>700 °C) sorbed almost as strongly (within 0.2-0.5 Log units) as the activated ones. Sorption coefficients significantly increased with pyrolysis temperature, CM surface area and pore volume, aromaticity, and thermal stability, and decreased with H/C, O/C, (O + N)/C content. The results of our study contribute to the understanding of processes underlying HOC sorption to CM and explore the potential of CM as engineered sorbents for environmental applications.
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Darya
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kupryianchyk
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hale
authors.affiliation: Department of Geological Sciences, The University of Florida, Gainesville, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Zimmerman
authors.affiliation: Geography and Geology, The University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, USA.
authors.forename: Omar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Harvey
authors.affiliation: USGS, Denver, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rutherford
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Abiven
authors.affiliation: IRNAS-CSIC, Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: Heike
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Knicker
authors.affiliation: Ithaka Institute, Arbaz, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Hans-Peter
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.affiliation: CNRS, France.
authors.forename: Cornelia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rumpel
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Oslo, Norway; Institute for Environmental Sciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway; Department of Applied Environmental Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden. Electronic address: Gerard.Cornelissen@ngi.no.
authors.forename: Gerard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cornelissen
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D002606:Charcoal / Q000737:chemistry*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D010616:Phenanthrenes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D013499:Surface Properties; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D010616:Phenanthrenes; C540010:biochar; D002606:Charcoal; C009407:2,5,2',5'-tetrachlorobiphenyl; C031181:phenanthrene; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls
keywords: Biochar; Hydrophobic organic compounds; Remediation; Sorption