Sorption and cosorption of lead and sulfapyridine on carbon nanotube-modified biochars

New, sustainable, and low-cost materials that can simultaneously remove a range of wastewater contaminants, such as heavy metals and pharmaceutical residues, are needed. In this work, modified biochars were produced by dip-coating hickory or bagasse biomass in carbon nanotube (CNT) suspensions with or without sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS)-aided dispersion prior to slow pyrolysis in a N2 environment at 600 °C. The sulfapyridine (SPY) and lead (Pb) sorption ability of pristine hickory (HC) and bagasse (BC) biochars and the modified biochars with (HC-SDBS-CNT and BC-SDBS-CNT, respectively) and without (HC-CNT and BC-CNT) SDBS was assessed in laboratory aqueous batch single- and binary-solute system. The greatest removal of SPY and Pb was observed for HC-SDBS-CNT (86 % SPY and 71 % Pb) and BC-SDBS-CNT (56 % SPY and 53 % Pb), whereas HC-CNT, BC-CNT, and the pristine biochars removed far less. This can be attributed to the fact that surfactant could prevent the aggregation of CNTs and thus promote the distribution and stabilization of individual CNT nanoparticle on the biochar surface to adsorb the contaminants. The observation of no significant change in Pb sorption capacities of the surfactant-dispersed CNT-modified biochars in the presence of SPY, or vice versa, was indicative of site-specific sorption interactions and a lack of significant competition for functional groups by the two sorbates. These results suggest that products of hybrid technologies, such as biochars modified with CNTs, can yield multi-sorbents and may hold excellent promise as a sustainable wastewater treatment alternative.