The contribution of lignocellulosic constituents to Cr(VI) reduction capacity of biochar-supported zerovalent iron

Abstract Biochars (BCs) derived from individual and blending lignocellulosic constituents were prepared to harbor zerovalent iron (ZVI/BC) in an effort to discriminate significance of each constituent or combination in ZVI/BC for Cr(VI) removal. BCs and ZVI/BC were characterized by TGA/GSC, XRD, Raman and BET analyses. Cellulose (BCC) and hemicellulose (BCH)-derived BCs has greater C content, H/C ratio, surface area and mass loss than BCs derived from lignin or lignin-containing biopolymer blends (BCLX). As per sorption and XPS analysis, ZVI/BC demonstrated greater Cr(VI) removal capacity than respective BCs, in which reduction accounted for over 77% Cr(VI) detoxification. Cr(VI) reduction by ZVI harbored by BCC and BCH was 19.72–16.54 g kg−1, compared to 5.97–4.26 g kg−1 for BCLX. ZVI/BC prepared by three-biopolymer blends with (12.63 g kg−1) or without (12.32 g kg−1) mineral approximated pinewood-BC (BCP) (13.02 g kg−1) for Cr(VI) reduction, suggesting minerals are not important constituent. Tafel analysis showed BCC and BCH, with lower ID/IG ratio owing to greater graphitization, were more conducible to transfer electron of ZVI in Cr(VI) reduction than BCLX. Thus, cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin can offer a good prediction of property of natural biomass, in which BCC and BCH favor electron transfer of ZVI but BCL is not electroactive.