ASSESSING THE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE SURFACE PROPERTIES OF BIOCHARS AND HEAVY METAL SORPTION

Studies have found that biochars, a charcoal material produced from organic matter that has undergone pyrolysis in an oxygen-limited environment, can perform heavy metal sorption due to the properties found on the biochars’ surface. However, few studies have described those properties quantitively. This poster presentation will address this by characterizing the surface properties and linking it to Pb²⁺ sorption. Results showed the maximum amount of Pb²⁺ adsorbed by the biochars (Q_max) decreases as the surface heterogeneity (ϕ_surf), how different the surface is, decreases. This indicates that heterogeneous surfaces have more sites available for Pb²⁺ sorption than more homogeneous surfaces. The presentation will further discuss these (and other) results, methodology, and modeling applications.