Adsorption of an organic pollutant onto biochar derived from sour cherry stone

Abstract

In the last decade, the expansion of industrial and agricultural activities has led to the significant rise of organic pollutants, contributing to serious environmental contamination. Biochar has received considerable attention as a low-cost and environmentally friendly adsorbent for a wide range of pollutants. In this paper, waste sour cherry stones, originating from the local fruit industry, were used as a raw material for biochar production via slow pyrolysis. The obtained biochar was characterized by SEM-EDX analysis, which revealed a porous and irregular surface morphology. The adsorption of the cationic dye Malachite green (MG) onto biochar was investigated in stirred batch system at pH 6, 25 ℃, adsorbent dosage of 2 g/L, initial dye concentration of 15-400 mg/L for 24 h. To assess the adsorption capacity of biochar for MG, the experimental data were analyzed by non-linear fitting of the Langmuir, Freundlich, and Sips adsorption isotherm models. The maximum adsorption capacity of 116.33 mg/g was obtained by Sips model, indicating combined adsorption on heterogeneous surfaces. The utilization of waste sour cherry stones for biochar production offers an effective approach for reducing waste disposal problems and producing a novel and sustainable adsorbent with promising potential for removal of organic pollutants from aqueous solutions.