doi: 10.18178/ijesd.2025.16.3.1522
Co-adsorption of Ammonium, Phosphate, Strontium and Arsenate from Contaminated Water by a Low Cost Biochar. Performance and Mechanisms
Despina Vamvuka*
,
George Asiminas ,
Antonios Stratakis ,
Despina Pentari
- Mineral Resources Engineering Department, Technical University of Crete, Chania, Greece
- Manuscript receivedDecember 17, 2024
- revisedFebruary 10, 2025
- acceptedApril 14, 2025
- publishedMay 19, 2025
Abstract
Co-adsorption of ammonium, phosphate,strontium and arsenate ions from polluted water sources by alow-cost nut residue biochar, without using any chemicals, wasinvestigated. The adsorption behavior of biochar was examinedfor different experimental parameters and the mechanisms ofadsorption were explored through structural, mineralogicaland chemical analyses, as well as modeling of experimental data.At equilibrium, a higher ionic strength favored the adsorptionprocess, whereas the uptake of each ion by the solid increasedsignificantly when all ions co-existed in the solution, implying nocompetition between them for sorption sites. The experimentaldata were fitted with great accuracy by the Freundlich isothermmodel. The maximum adsorption capacity of the biocharachieved for ammonium, phosphate, strontium and arsenatewas 50.3 mg/g, 121 mg/g, 66.9 mg/g and 62.9 mg/g, respectively.The potential mechanisms of adsorption were the chemicalcomplexation of all ions with the adsorbent, electrostaticattraction for ammonium and strontium cations, ligandexchange for phosphate and arsenate ions and mineral surfaceprecipitation for phosphate, strontium and arsenate ions.
Keywords
- co-adsorption
- ammonium
- phosphate
- strontium
- arsenate
- biochar
How to Cite
Despina Vamvuka, George Asiminas, Antonios Stratakis, and Despina Pentari, "Co-adsorption of Ammonium, Phosphate, Strontium and Arsenate from Contaminated Water by a Low Cost Biochar. Performance and Mechanisms," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 164-173, 2025. https://doi.org/10.18178/ijesd.2025.16.3.1522
Copyright & License
Copyright © 2025 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).