Adsorption characteristics of arsenic and phosphate onto iron impregnated biochar derived from anaerobic granular sludge

Biological wastewater treatment produces biowaste (sludge), which contains a high portion of organic matter. The organic matter comes from microorganisms, and the biowaste can be converted into biochar, a carbon-rich, fine-grained, and porous substance. Granular sludge from upflow anaerobic sludge blanket contains more organic matter (80 wt% of dry matter) and carbon content (>50% of organic matter). In this study, iron impregnated biochar was prepared to remove arsenic (As) and phosphate, oxyanionic pollutants, from the aqueous phase. The iron impregnation of biochar was executed in a one-step by pyrolyzing the biowaste in the presence of Fe instead of conventional two-step, i.e., biochar production after then modification. The granular sludge biochar and activated sludge biochar did not adsorb at all As and phosphate. The adsorption capacity of granular sludge biochar was enhanced via iron impregnation, and the iron-impregnated granular sludge biochar removed 10.37 mg PO43-/g, 11.5 mg As(V)/g, and 6.1 mg As(III)/g, respectively. Therefore, the one-step process enhanced the adsorption capacity and reduced processing time for the adsorbent synthesis.