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Updated: Jul 12, 2026

Assessment of Waste-Derived Biochars on the Health and Biological Activity of Soil
Published on: October 10, 2025
Impact of chlorine on nutrient and antibiotic adsorption from human urine by modified biochar
Sayeda Ummeh Masrura1, Erica Marti1, La Zhuo2
1Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV, 89154, USA.
Abstract:
Human urine is a promising resource for nutrient recovery; however, chlorine from toilet cleaning agents may interfere with adsorption-based recovery processes. In this study, the impact of chlorine during the adsorption of nutrients (N and P) and antibiotics in source-separated urine by biochar was investigated. Sewage sludge biochar pyrolyzed at 550°C and 700°C (SS700) modified with dimethyl sulfoxide and citric acid combined with sucrose (CAS) were selected for adsorption based on preliminary experiments. Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetics models provide comparatively better empirical fits to the experimental data, suggesting that monolayer chemisorption is the dominant adsorption behavior. There was a significant difference between the adsorption capacities of ammonia-N and antibiotics with and without chlorine specifically for SS700 modified with CAS biochar, which adsorbed 714 μg/g and 170 μg/g of trimethoprim (320% increase), 2500 μg/g and 833 μg/g of ciprofloxacin (200% increase), 53.14 mg/g and 49.43 mg/g of ammonia-N (7% increase), with and without chlorine, respectively. The formation of surface oxides on biochar through chlorination and chloramination (from chlorine reacting with ammonia--N) potentially affected the adsorption process. Chlorine had minimal impact on phosphorus recovery due to surface blocking by chlorinated byproducts. This study reveals the influence of chlorine, on the adsorption capacities of biochar for nutrients and antibiotics, particularly altering the concentration of nutrients in urine solutions and thereby impacting the nutrient recovery process.
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