[Characteristic of Nitrate Adsorption in Aqueous Solution by Iron and Manganese Oxide/Biochar Composites]

In this study, we synthesized Fe/Mn bimetallic oxide coated biochar sorbents by pyrolysis of wheat straw impregnated with ferric chloride and potassium permanganate and investigated their potential to adsorb nitrate in water. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy analysis suggests that Fe(Ⅲ)/Mn(Ⅳ) bimetallic oxide particles emerge on the sorbents. The optimized sorbent could achieve a specific surface area of 153.116 m²·g^-1 and a point of zero charge of 9.76. Batch nitrate adsorption experiments were carried out to investigate the influence of various factors, such as sorbent dosage, initial solution pH, and co-existing anions. Results show that the sorbent maintained a high adsorption capacity of 75.40%-78.70% over a wide range of pH from 1.00 to 9.05, and the sorption mechanism was interpreted as ligand exchange. The effects of co-existing anions on the nitrate sorption followed the decreasing order of Cl^- > SO₄^2- > PO₄^3-. Furthermore, the adsorption isotherms were well described by the Langmuir model, and the sorbent could exhibit a quite competitively high capacity of 37.3613 mg·g^-1 for nitrate removal. In addition, the accordance of sorption kinetics with the pseudo-second order model implied that the sorption could be a multi-stage controlled chemical process. In addition, the thermodynamic parameters suggested that the sorption reaction could be a spontaneous and endothermic process. The results demonstrated that the Fe/Mn bimetallic oxide coated biochar could serve as a promising agent for nitrate removal from water.