Thesis
Biochar as an innovative material for mercury treatment
- Creator
- Rights statement
- Awarding institution
- University of Strathclyde
- Date of award
- 2012
- Thesis identifier
- T13161
- Qualification Level
- Qualification Name
- Department, School or Faculty
- Abstract
- Mercury is a highly toxic element which poses significant health concerns for humans exposed to it. It is a global pollutant, released into the environment both naturally and anthropogenically. Biochar has been proven as an effective remediation technique for many organic contaminants, with recent studies highlighting the potential for inorganic contaminant treatment as well. In addition to its successful function as a sorbent, biochar has the added advantage of being a low cost, sustainable, environmentally friendly product. The overall aim of this project is to determine whether biochar can be used as a cheap and sustainable remediation technique for removing mercury from contaminated water. This is of particular importance to the developing world, where current remediation methods such as activated carbon adsorption are financially unviable. A methodology was devised for biochar production within the laboratory, and several batches of willow biochar were produced across a range of pyrolysis temperatures and durations. These chars then underwent a basic characterisation. It was discovered that an increase in pyrolysis time and temperature results in a decrease in char yield, however, these variables appear to have no effect on organic matter, ash, or moisture content. Column experiments were carried out to assess the potential for biochar to remove mercury from solution. Results proved inconclusive, although retardation of mercury flow appeared to occur in the biochar and activated carbon columns. Batch adsorption experiments performed, found biochar to reduce mercury concentrations by 78.3% after 30 minutes, and 91.49% after 1 hour. These results compared well with the performance of activated carbon, but further work is required over a greater range of mercury concentrations in order to determine the full potential of biochar. Despite activated carbon proving the most effective sorbent, the potential for biochar to be employed as a low cost and sustainable alternative has been highlighted experimentally in this work.
- Resource Type
- DOI
- Date Created
- 2012
- Former identifier
- 947396
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File | 2021-07-02 | University of Strathclyde |