Toxic Metal Adsorption from Aqueous Solution by Activated Biochars Produced from Macadamia Nutshell Waste

Abundantly available biomass wastes from agriculture can serve as effective environmental remediation materials. In this study, activated biochar was fabricated from macadamia nutshell (MCN) through carbonization and chemical modification. The resultant biochars were used as adsorbents to remove toxic metal ions such as Cu2+ and Zn2+ from aqueous solutions. The results showed that the activated MCN biochar has a high adsorption capacity for toxic metal ions. When MCN biochar was activated with K2CO3, the adsorption efficiencies for Cu2+ and Zn2+ were 84.02% and 53.42%, respectively. With H3PO4 activation, the Cu2+- and Zn2+-adsorption performances were 95.92% and 67.41%, respectively. H2O2-modified MCN biochar had reasonable Cu2+- and Zn2+-adsorption efficiencies of 79.33% and 64.52%, respectively. The effects of pH, adsorbent concentration and adsorption time on the removal performances of Cu2+ and Zn2+ in aqueous solution were evaluated. The results exhibited that the activated MCN biochar showed quick adsorption ability with an optimal pH of 4 and 4.5 for both Cu2+ and Zn2+, respectively.