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Updated: May 9, 2026
Physical, Chemical and Biological Characterization of Six Biochars Produced for the Remediation of Contaminated Sites
Published on: November 28, 2014
Trichloroethylene adsorption by pine needle biochars produced at various pyrolysis temperatures
Mahtab Ahmad1, Sang Soo Lee, Anushka Upamali Rajapaksha
1Korea Biochar Research Center & Department of Biological Environment, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 200-701, Republic of Korea.
Abstract:
In this study, pine needles were converted to biochar (BC) at different pyrolysis temperatures of 300, 500, and 700 °C to sorb trichloroethylene (TCE), and the changes in BC properties with each temperature were evaluated. Pyrolysis temperature showed a pronounced effect on BC properties. Decreases in molar H/C and O/C ratios resulted from removing O- and H-containing functional groups with increasing temperature, and produced high aromaticity and low polarity BCs. BCs produced at higher temperature showed greater TCE removal efficiency from water due to their high surface area, micro-porosity, and carbonized extent. The performance of various BCs for TCE removal was assessed by the Freundlich, Langmuir, Temkin, and Dubinin-Radushkevich adsorption models, among which the Temkin and Dubinin-Radushkevich models best described TCE adsorption onto various BCs, indicating prevailing sorption mechanism as pore-filling.
