Chemosphere 272 (2021) 129917

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Chemosphere
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/chemosphere

Biochar for remediation of agrochemicals and synthetic organic dyes

from environmental samples: A review
Ravindra Kumar Gautam a, 1, Mandavi Goswami, M Tech b, c, Rakesh K. Mishra d,
Preeti Chaturvedi e, Mukesh Kumar Awashthi f, Ram Sharan Singh b,
Balendu Shekhar Giri b, c, *, Ashok Pandey, PhD g, **
a
Department of Chemistry (Centre of Advanced Study), Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005, India
b
Department of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University), Varanasi, 221005, India
c
Centre for Energy and Environmental Sustainability (CEES), Lucknow, 226 029, UP, India
d
Department of Chemistry, National Institute of Technology, Uttarakhand (NITUK), Srinagar (Garhwal), 246174, India
e
Aquatic Toxicology Laboratory, Environmental Toxicology Group, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research
(CSIR-IITR), Vishvigyan Bhawan, 31, M.G. Marg, Lucknow, 226001, Uttar Pradesh, India
f
College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi Province, 712100, PR China
g
Centre for Innovation and Translational Research, CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow, 226 001, India

h i g h l i g h t s g r a p h i c a l a b s t r a c t

To assess and evaluate the sorption

recital of biochar for agrochemicals.

Assessment of modern techniques
being practiced for related biochars
characterization.

The performance of pyrolyzed bio-
char is highly temperature
dependent.

Research and development work on
real and mixed wastewater is
required.

Sorption properties of biochar still
needs to be improvised.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Application of agrochemicals in farming sector to control insects and pests; and use of synthetic organic
Received 27 July 2020 dyes to color the products are increasing continuously due to the rapid growth of industries. During the
Received in revised form application process many industries releases toxic agrochemicals and dyes in to the aquatic environment
25 December 2020 and on land without the proper treatment. Due to their toxicity the disposal of such chemicals is of
Accepted 6 February 2021
utmost importance. Biochar offers the ability to remediate these substances from environmental
Available online 11 February 2021
matrices because of their high sorption ability of pollutants from water and soil. This review highlights
Handling Editor: Derek Muir the development and advancement of biochar-based treatment for abatement of agrochemicals and
synthetic organic dyes, involving its technical aspects and the variables connected with removing these
Keywords: kinds of pollutants. Several optimization parameters like temperature, pH, chemical concentration,
Agrochemicals biochar properties, time, and co-existing ions have been elaborated. Literature survey shows that most of
Biochar the researches on biochar application have been conducted in the batch mode. Hence there is an urgent
Dyes need to apply this beneficial technique for the remediation of pollutants at the larger scale in the real
Wastewater

* Corresponding author. Department of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-BHU), Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, 221005 India.
** Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: mandavigs@gmail.com (M. Goswami), balendushekher23@gmail.com (B.S. Giri), ashok.pandey1@iitr.res.in, ashokpandey1956@gmail.com (A. Pandey).
1
Past Address: Environmental Chemistry Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Allahabad, Allahabad 211 002, India.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.129917
0045-6535/© 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
R.K. Gautam, M. Goswami, R.K. Mishra et al. Chemosphere 272 (2021) 129917

Hybrid treatment water and soil samples. A comprehensive summary on sorption kinetics and adsorption isotherms with
Bioremediation regards to pollutant removal is also presented. This review also covers the cost analysis of various
techniques where biochar has been used as an adsorbent. Thus this review makes an easy roadmap for
the further development in biochar and biochar based composites and expansion of these demanding
areas of research in biochar and their applications.
© 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1. Introduction schizophrenia, (Gibbons et al., 2015). Xylene which is used as sol-

Rapid use of anthropogenic chemicals in the modern agricul-
tural practices have become a crucial point for the direct control of
pests, insect, weeds, diseases, and in surplus low-cost food supply
to feed the population which is growing by leaps and bounds
(Fig. 1). Several anthropogenic chemicals such as atrazine, carbaryl,
carbamates, chlorpyrifos, p-nitro phenols, DDT, endosulfan,
lindane, malathion, and organophosphate compounds have been
widely used in pest control, horticulture and forestry, to kill the
undesired weeds, and rodenticides (Geed et al., 2017; Tiwari et al.,
2017; Wang et al., 2017). It is estimated that ~4 million tons of
pesticides used annually to world crops in pest control (Geed et al.,
2017, 2019). Agrochemicals have become a major threat to the
ecological system and for human beings as they possess undesired
effects due to their excessive applications in agricultural sectors.
Environmental problems arise when the agrochemicals apply as
chemical growth inducers, enhanced hormone releasers, pesti-
cides, weedicides, and in form of synthetic fertilizers to increase the
productivity in crops. Recently, the toxicity generated by agro-
chemicals due to their excessive use in crop management have
catches the attention of the scientific society. It is reported that less
than 1.0% total of used pesticides reaches the target pests present in
the agricultural field and horticultural area, so a high percentage of
these chemicals is unused and move off-target (Yavari et al., 2015).
The toxicity of neonics, a class of anthropogenic insecticides
developed to replace organophosphate and carbamates in-
secticides, have been widely reported in vertebrate as well as
invertebrate species (Cimino et al., 2017) and causes adverse effects
in central nervous system, leading to several serious issues such as
Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, depression, and
vent for insecticides and pesticides causes irritation of eyes and
mucous membranes, chemical pneumonitis, hemorrhage, and
pulmonary edema (Singh et al., 2017; Khan et al., 2020).
Consequently, the continuous monitoring of different environ-
mental matrices, such as air, soil, water, plants, and animal bodies
are regularly detected the residues of agrochemicals. Therefore, it
becomes necessary to adopt effective technologies to remediate
these agrochemicals before their discharge in to the water and soil
ecosystem. Various technologies, such as electrochemical degra-
dation (Shen et al., 2014; Chen et al., 2016), bioremediation (Zhao
et al., 2015; Quan et al., 2017; Goswami et al., 2020), membrane
filtration (Yang et al., 2016), photo catalytic degradation (Mohamed
et al., 2012; Farhadian and Kazemzad, 2016) and adsorption
(Cederlund et al., 2016; Zheng et al., 2017; Ahmad et al., 2020) have
been developed and utilized for the remediation of agrochemicals
from contaminated environments. As all these technologies have
their own advantages and disadvantages. Among these technolo-
gies, adsorption have been found most suitable due to its simple
design, low-cost, less energy consumption, high adsorption ca-
pacity, and ease in recovery of used adsorbents (Gautam et al., 2014,
2017; Giri et al., 2020a).
Biochar is a carbon rich product of biomass produced by py-
rolysis in a reactor under limited oxygen supply and reasonable
temperature conditions (<700  C) (Tan et al., 2016; Oliveira et al.,
2017). Biochar obtained from various biomass have been widely
used as a potential candidate for improving the soil fertility, miti-
gation of toxic gases, carbon sequestration, and as a catalyst in
energy production. The biochar inherently displays the hydropho-
bic properties due to the polyaromatic sheets, together with the
micro-porosity generated by the turbo-stratic arrangement of the

Fig. 1. Scopus data represent the recent 10 years publications on the biochar and its application for the removal of agrochemicals in soil and their relationship.

2
R.K. Gautam, M. Goswami, R.K. Mishra et al.
graphene micro-crystallites, which makes it a potential sorbent in
remediation of organic and inorganic toxic materials (Yavari et al.,
2015). Laboratory produced biochar have been successfully
applied for the removal of polyaromatic hydrocarbons, PCBs, heavy
metals such as, Fe, As and Cu, dyes (e.g. methylene blue, malachite
green), and many other organic pollutants from the soil and water.
Recently, biochars derived from micro-algal strains has been
applied for the adsorption of p-nitro-phenols from wastewater
(Zheng et al., 2017). The results indicated that biochar from Chlor-
ella sp. Cha-01exhibited a high adsorption capacity (204.8 mg/g) of
p-nitro-phenols, which was much higher (250% and 140%) than
that of its raw biomass and powder activated carbon, respectively.
Recently, biochar production and applications have been reviewed
widely by many workers in different fields, viz., pyrolysis for bio-
char (Manya
, 2012), contaminant removal by biochar and engi-
neered biochar (Mohan et al., 2014; Tan et al., 2016; Ahmed et al.,
2016; Rajapaksha et al., 2016), heavy metal removal (Inyang et al.,
2016), pesticide removal (Yavari et al., 2015),biochar application
in field (Tan et al., 2017),biochar production technologies (Meyer
et al., 2011a, 2011b), and bio-oil production (Mirkouei et al.,
2017). The adsorption capability of a biochar depends on a variety
of factors viz., precursor materials, and production conditions
applied during the pyrolysis of biomass (Shimabuku et al., 2016;
Zhang et al., 2013a, 2013b). The production of biochar from biomass
have been given elsewhere (Saquing et al., 2016; Rajapaksha et al.,
2014; Zhang et al., 2013a, 2013b; Liu et al., 2014; Giri et al., 2020a;
Qian et al., 2015) etc. Table 1 summarizes the production of biochar
from various feedstock’s under different operating conditions.
However, till date not a single review has been published in the
remediation of agrochemicals through the application of biochar.
Our understanding for the agrochemicals fate, behavior, transport
and toxicity are still lacking due to increase in number of new ag-
rochemicals to fight the resist pests and rodents. During the past
one decade various efforts have been carried out to study the
chemical behavior, fate, transport, and toxicity of agrochemicals
and their removal by different treatment technologies. Several new
remediation technologies have been tested successfully and several
of these have gone into operation along with a huge number of
publications in various highly reputed journal. Authors hope that
this review on the biochar will help to provide a better under-
standing and orientation in the important and interesting field of
‘‘application of biochar in the remediation of agrochemicals and
dyes from environmental matrices’’. The methodology of studying
biochar-based remediation is based on an interdisciplinary
approach to it, whereby the phenomenon or mechanism can be
Table 1
Methods for the synthesis of biochar reported in literature with their operating temperature, residence time, biochar yield and special remarks.
Methods Temperature Residence time (h) Biochar yield
( C) (%)
Slow pyrolysis 300e500 Minutes to days 24e46%
Fixed bed slow pyrolysis 300e700 2 ~27
Fast pyrolysis 700 Few seconds (0.5 ~26
e2 s)
Hydrothermal 200e250 12 65
carbonization
Gasification 800 Few seconds ~10
Slow pyrolysis 300e600 3 40
Slow pyrolysis 300e600 3 35
Slow pyrolysis 300e500 3 40
Slow pyrolysis 300e500 3 35
Chemosphere 272 (2021) 129917
studied to better examined and analyzed from different perspec-
tives, views and angles by environmental scientists, bioprocess
engineers, chemists, biochemist, biochemical engineers and
chemical engineers as well as by environmentalists.
2. Characterization of biochar
Several types of sophisticated instrumental techniques have
been used for the characterization of physical and chemical nature
of biochar. A detailed survey of used instrumental techniques has
been given in Table 2. The Table 3 shows the BET surface area and
the pore volume of selected biochar solids obtained using N2
adsorption. Surface area is not only the adequate characterizing
factor but biochar surface heterogeneity also played an important
role in the sorption behavior. FTIR spectroscopy has been used for
the determination of functional groups in developed biochar.
Functional groups play an important role in the adsorption of ag-
rochemicals from soil and water. Table 4 shows the FTIR analysis of
raw biomass, biochar, modified biochar, and contaminant loaded
biochar from different source. XPS spectra have been also used for
the characterization of surface moieties present in the biochar. The
XPS spectra of Fir wood biochar were recorded at C1s peaks, which
revealed the presence of oxygen at the outer surface of biochar
(Fang et al., 2014). The XPS peaks have been identify as 284.6 eV
which showed the presence of aliphatic or aromatic carbon, i.e.,
CeH, CeC, and C]C, peaks at285.7e286.2 eV, 287.5e287.6, and
289.2 eV were due to the occurrences of oxygen-containing moi-
eties CeO, C]O, and OeC]O, respectively. Elemental composition
shows the characteristics of produced biochar. Table 5 shows the
elemental composition of biochars derived from different sources.
Generally, the atomic ratios of H/C and [(O þ N)/C] have been
distinguished as the indices for aromaticity and polarity, respec-
tively (Zhang et al., 2013a, 2013b). Thermal degradation of biochar
have also been carried out to understand the chemistry and to test
the stability of produced biochar. Liu et al. (2014) studied the
combustion characteristics of bamboo-biochar. They reported that
with increase in combustion temperature the characteristic peak of
hemicelluloses and cellulose were observed between 300 and
370  C, respectively (Fig. 2). Although decomposition of lignin does
not give any characteristic peak during the thermal decomposition
process. Zhang et al. (2012) developed MgO nano-flake based bio-
char nano-composites for the efficient removal of phosphate and
nitrate from aqueous solution. The maximum adsorption capacity
was found for phosphate and nitrate which were 835 and 94 mg/g,
respectively.
Remarks References
Complete decomposition of cellulose and hemicelluloses Lee et al. (2013)
Yield decreased with increase of temperature Yue et al. (2016)
Main product is bio oil and biochar with low carbon yield Khan et al. (2020)
(~75%)
Good yield Meyer et al. (2011)
Poor carbon yield and tar formation Meyer et al. (2011)
Good Yield Goswami et al. (2020)
Good Yield Khan et al. (2020)
Good Yield Ahmad et al. (2020); Giri et al.
(2020b)
Good Yield Bharti et al. (2019); Giri et al.
(2020b)
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R.K. Gautam, M. Goswami, R.K. Mishra et al. Chemosphere 272 (2021) 129917

Table 2
Instrumental techniques used for characterization of biochar.

Instrumental Materials Applications Remarks References

techniques

TEM/HR-TEM porous MgO-biochar Removal of phosphate and nitrate HR-TEM indicated that the biocharmatrix is mesoporous with average
nano-composites pore size of 50 nm and the MgO nano-flakes have spacing between 2
and 4 nm
SEM/FE-SEM Biochars from Analysis ofhigh adsorption capacity and distinct difference in orphology Zheng et al.
microalgae mechanism of p-nitrophenols based on the microalgae species, high adsorption capacity (2017)
XRD MgO-biochar nano- Adsorption of phosphate and nitrate XRD results confirmed that MgO particles in all the samples were
composites highly crystalline
FTIR Energy cane Adsorption of Pb ions from water No change in functional groups of biochar and magnetically modified Mohan et al.
(S. spontaneum) biochar were observed (2015)
Fir wood derived biochar Adsorption of perchlorate (ClO4 ) ions No change in functional groups of biochar was found at 200  C in Fang et al.
from water comparison with raw biomass (2014)
Raman/FT- Energy cane Adsorption of Pb ions from water Similar bands in raw biochar and magnetically modified biochar Mohan et al.
Raman (S. spontaneum) (2015)
spectra
XPS Modification of biochar hydrothermal carbonization of peanut XPS analysis of C1s, O1s, and N1s contents in the hydrochar sorbent
hull to remove aqueous
heavy metals
13
C NMR Sorghum biochar, red Can be used in soil applications Mostly aromatic carbons, some aliphatic carbons and CeOH were also Qian et al.
cidar biochar present (2015)
Pig manure derived Adsorption and catalytic hydrolysis of Adsorption takes place on the surface of the biochar whereas the metal Zhang et al.
biochar carbaryl and atrazine pesticides present in the biochar catalyzes the reactions (2013a, 2013b)
BET surface Olive stone and Carbon dioxide adsorption High carbon dioxide adsorption was observed due to the enhanced Plaza et al.,
area carbonized olive stone total surface area (2009); Bharti
analyzer et al. (2019)
Zeta Canola straw, peanut Adsorption of methyl violet from Electrostatic attraction, specific interaction between the dye and the Xu et al. (2011)
potential straw, soybean straw, aqueous solutions with batch, column carboxylic group and phenolics, and surface precipitation increased
analyzer and rice hull char and leaching experiments the adsorption of methyl violet on biochars

Table 3
BET surface area and pore volume of selected biochar solids obtained using N2 adsorption.

Biochar materials Total surface area (m2/ Micro-pore volume Meso-pore volume Total pore volume References
g) (cm3/g) (cm3/g) (cm3/g)

Sorghum char 14.7 0.005 0.003 0.01 Qian et al. (2015)

Red cedar char 68 0.18 0.022 0.042 Qian et al. (2015)
Energy cane(S. spontaneum) 37.13 1.77 e 1.99 Mohan et al. (2015)
Pig manure derived biochar 218.1 e e 0.315 Zhang et al. (2013a,
2013b)
Biochar with bentonite 12.91 e e 0.028 Dai et al. (2017)
Bio-char without bentonite 7.43 e e 0.053 Dai et al. (2017)
Rice straw biochar 522.5 e e 1.2004 Taha et al. (2014)
Corn Stover biochar 551.7 e e 2.6676 Taha et al. (2014)
H3PO4 treated Rice straw biochar 517.1 e e 0.9394 Taha et al. (2014)
H3PO4 treated corn stover biochar 513.9 e e 0.6459 Taha et al. (2014)
Carbonized olive stone 43 e 0.026 Plaza et al. (2009)
Carbonized olive stone activated at 20% 613 e 0.046 0.288 Plaza et al. (2009)
burn off
Carbonized olive stone activated at 40% 909 e 0.073 0.437 Plaza et al. (2009)
burn off
Carbonized olive stone activated at 50% 1079 e 0.066 0.502 Plaza et al. (2009)
burn off
Willow derived biochar 11.4 0.002 e 0.006 Kołtowski et al. (2017)
Biochar activated by CO2 512.0 0.169 e 0.276 Kołtowski et al. (2017)
Biochar activated by superheated steam 840.6 0.225 e 0.577 Kołtowski et al. (2017)
Biochar activated by microwave 443.2 0.114 e 0.242 Kołtowski et al. (2017)

3. Applications and uses
3.1. Remediation of agrochemicals from water and wastewater
The raw biomass and carbonized biomass as biochar have been
used to remove agrochemicals like pesticides, insecticides, antibi-
otics, anti-inflammatory agents, and metals as well as metalloids.
The strong adsorption of pollutants on biochar from water, waste-
water and soil greatly reduces mobilization of pollutants and thus
helps in decreasing the potential environmental risk associated
with toxic chemicals and their byproducts.
Zhang et al. (2013a, 2013b) developed the pig manure based
biochar to elucidate its influence towards adsorption and catalytic
hydrolysis of carbaryl and atrazine from aqueous solutions. The
adsorption of pesticides was controlled by hydrophilic effect and
other phenomenon including pore-filling as well asp-pdo-
noreacceptor interactions. Pyrolysis performed at high tempera-
ture effectively hydrolyzed both the pesticides carbaryl and
atrazine by 71.8 and 27.9% in 12 h, respectively. Adsorption of a
mixture of 15 different pesticides (with individual pesticide con-
centrations of 400 mg/L) from water by untreated and treated
(using phosphoric acid) biochars and charcoal has been studied.

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R.K. Gautam, M. Goswami, R.K. Mishra et al. Chemosphere 272 (2021) 129917

Table 4
FTIR analysis of raw biomass, biochar, modified biochar, and contaminant loaded biochar from different source.

Raw biomass Final Product Frequencies Assignments of functional groups References

(cm1)

Energy cane (S. Biochar 3751e3448 -OH stretching from phenolics groups and partially dehydrated Mohan et al. (2015); Khan et al.
spontaneum) deoxygenated cellulose and hemicelluloses hydroxyl groups (2020)
2360 C^C stretching
1750e1650 saturated and unsaturated carbonyl
1558 aromatic ring vibrations
1458 CeH bending
667 CeCeC bending
Fir wood chips Wood derived 2853e2923 aliphatic Methylene group Fang et al. (2014); Bharti et al. (2019);
biochar 1033e1160 CeO/CeOeC groups Goswami et al. (2020);
1730 esterC]O
2853, 2923 fatty hydrocarbon
1033e1510 aliphatic functional groups
15661601, aromatic C]C stretching
1430
748e875 aromatic CeH out-of-plane vibration
Pig manure Biochar 3665 Hydroxyl Zhang et al. (2013a, 2013b)
2885e2850 aliphatic carbon
1500e1450 Carboxyl groups
1350e1300 Carboxyl groups
Microalgae Biochar 3308e3366 OeH bond stretching Zheng et al. (2017)
1655e1658 eC]N stretching
1570e1575 C¼O stretching
1106e1135 eCe, Oe bond stretching
887e889 aromatic CeH out of plane deformation
533e539 CeNeS scissoring
1241e1271 eNeH stretching
1020.5 CeOH stretching vibrations
e1022.7
931.7e938.0 CeOeC stretching
526.7e535.1 CeNeS scissoring
557e574 CeNeS group
1063e1066 CeO stretching
Rice straw, corn Biochar and H3PO4 3600e3200 hydroxyl groups Taha et al. (2014); Ahmad et al.
stover treated biochar 3370e3350 hydroxyl groups (2020); Khan et al. (2020)
2921e2855 aliphatic CeH stretching
1373 Stretching vibrations of CH3
1200, 900 CeO stretch
1590e1550 C¼C aromatic ring stretching

The data obtained indicated that biochar have better adsorption processing residues for the preparation of the biochar and applied it
properties than the charcoal. The effect of various chemical treat- for the removal of oxy-tetracycline from water. They developed
ments using phosphoric acid on biochars is also higher than in various biochar through the chemical treatment (H3PO4, H2SO4,
charcoal. The phosphoric acid treated biochar obtained from rice NaOH and KOH) and pyrolysis at 600  C for 1 h. Result showed that
straw took only 2 h (adsorption contact time) to reduce the indi- the adsorption of oxytetracycline from aqueous solution increased
vidual pesticide concentration in water (at pH 7.0) to 0.005 mg/L when temperature rises from 20 to 40  C with the maximum
with an exception of oxamyl, which was reduced to 0.068 mg/l after adsorption capacity of 95.1 mg/g for the 5 M H3PO4 treated biochar
24 h. Oxamyl can be easily removed from water by its degradation at 40  C.
under the alkaline effect of untreated biochar. Table 6 shows the
recently reported sorption studies of biochar materials for different
3.2. Remediation of agrochemicals from soil
pesticides.
Wu et al. (2013a, 2013b) studied the adsorption of phenan-
The Eucalyptus wood chips biochar was prepared by the py-
threne, sulfamethoxazole, bisphenol A, ofloxacin and norfloxacin
rolysis at 450 and 850  C and applied for the removal of chlorpyr-
from water using the biochar derived from lake sediment con-
ifos and carbofuran in the bioavailability for spring onion (Yu et al.,
taining high organic carbon content. Result showed that the sorp-
2009a, 2009b). Soil was mixed with the desired pesticides (50 mg/
tion of phenanthrene and sulfamethoxazole was higher at biochar
kg) and after 35 days, 86e88% of pesticides lost from the control
of carbonized sediment, whereas, the sorption of bisphenolA,
soil. However, it was only 51% of carbofuran and 44% chlorpyrifos
ofloxacin and norfloxacin was found to be higher for original lake
from the soil amended with 1.0% biochar prepared at 850  C. Using
sediment. Higher sorption of phenanthrene and sulfamethoxazole
1% of biochar-850  C, the total plant residues for chlorpyrifos and
was due to the increased surface area after the pyrolysis of lake
carbofuran were decreased to 10% and 25% of that in the control
sediment. However, the sorption of bisphenol A, ofloxacin and
treatment, respectively. Rajapaksha et al. (2014) studied the
norfloxacin was not influenced by the surface area of the biochar. It
application of biochar by lettuce (Lactuca sativa) for the uptake of
was suggested that hydrophobic effects controlled the sorption of
sulfamethazine in the soils treated with and without biochar
phenanthrene and sulfamethoxazole, while hydrogen bonding
derived from an invasive plant bur cucumber (Sicyos angulatus).
playsmajorroles for the sorption of the chemicals with hydroxyl
After the application of biochar, 86% of sulfamethazine was reduced
(bisphenol A) and carboxyl groups (ofloxacinand norfloxacin).
in soil spiked with 5 mg/kg whereas only 63% sulfamethazine was
Recently, Aghababaei et al. (2017) utilized the forest and wood
reduced in soil spiked with 50 mg kg1sulfamethazine pesticide.
5
 R.K. Gautam, M. Goswami, R.K. Mishra et al.
Table 5
Elemental composition of biochar derived from different sources.

Precursor Pyrolysis Pyrolysis Pyrolysis conditions Ca2þ Mg2þ P C (%) N H (%) O (%) H/C O/C References
temp (◦C) time (h) (gkg1) (gkg1) (gkg1) (%) (molar) (molar)

Willow derived biochar 700 1 Pyrolyzed at low oxygen content e e e 69.94 1.13 2.08 19.13 0.36 0.21 Kołtowski et al.
(2017)
Biochar activated by CO2 800 1 Activation carried out in quartz based fluidized bed reactor e e e 70.82 0.82 0.70 16.37 0.12 0.17 Kołtowski et al.
(2017)
 
Biochar activated by 800 1 heating rate-10 C/min to 800 C in N2 atmosphere with nitrogen flow rate at e e e 56.86 0.37 0.59 21.68 0.12 0.29 Kołtowski et al.
superheated steam H2O 100 ml/min (2017)
Biochar activated by 200 0.5 High pressure based microwave reactor e e e 73.92 0.66 0.95 8.72 0.15 0.09 Kołtowski et al.
microwave (2017)
Bamboo (Acidosasa edulis) 300 1 slow pyrolysis, 10  C min1 heating rate e e e 61.94 .50 3.592 25.34 0.69 0.31 Hu et al. (2016)
shoot shell biochar
Bamboo (Acidosasa edulis) 500 1 slow pyrolysis, 10  C min1 heating rate e e e 73.27 1.91 2.33 14.15 0.38 0.14 Hu et al. (2016)
shoot shell biochar
 1
Bamboo (Acidosasa edulis) 700 1 slow pyrolysis, 10 C min heating rate e e e 77.80 1.55 1.48 8.06 0.23 0.08 Hu et al. (2016)
shoot shell biochar
Sorghum 850 e Fast pyrolysis, residence time 9s 0.22% 0.09% 0.04% 40.7 0.5 6.4 e e e Qian et al. (2015)
Sorghum biochar 850 e 5.96% 0.48% 0.18% 67.9 0.2 1.5 e e e Qian et al. (2015)
Red Cidar 850 e 0.65% 0.04% 0.02% 47.5 0.4 6.3 e e e Qian et al. (2015)
Red Cidar biochar 850 e 3.91% 0.14% 0.04% 66.4 0.2 1.9 e e e Qian et al. (2015)
Energy cane (S. spontaneum) 425 72 s Fast pyrolysis 31.1% 5.53% 9.53% 63.67 1.36 2.91 20.47 Mohan et al.
(2015)
Fir wood derived biochar 200 6 Slow pyrolysis to prevent the calcination 50.17 0.55 6.01 43.27 1.437 0.647 Fang et al. (2014)
6

e e e
Fir wood derived biochar 300 6 e e e 66.67 0.26 3.86 29.20 0.696 0.328 Fang et al. (2014)
Fir wood derived biochar 400 6 e e e 75.93 0.42 3.26 20.38 0.514 0.201 Fang et al. (2014)
Fir wood derived biochar 500 6 e e e 83.50 0.49 2.58 13.41 0.370 0.120 Fang et al. (2014)
Fir wood derived biochar 600 6 e e e 87.58 0.42 1.85 10.12 0.254 0.087 Fang et al. (2014)
Fir wood derived biochar 700 6 e e e 89.30 0.30 1.02 9.36 0.137 0.079 Fang et al. (2014)
Pig manure derived biochars 350 2 Slow pyrolysis e e e 31.58 3.80 2.36 16.93 0.90 0.26 Zhang et al.
(2013a, 2013b)
Pig manure derived biochars 700 2 Slow pyrolysis e e e 25.16 2.05 1.12 4.83 0.53 0.31 Zhang et al.
(2013a, 2013b)
Pig manure derived deashed 350 2 Slow pyrolysis, obtained biochar was deashed with 1 M:1 M of HCl and HF e e e 66.68 7.58 4.44 20.03 0.80 0.16 Zhang et al.
biochars solution (2013a, 2013b)
Pig manure derived deashed 700 2 e e e 74.22 4.97 2.79 11.48 0.45 0.13 Zhang et al.
biochars (2013a, 2013b)
Bio-char with Bentonite 550 e Integrated in-situ and ex-situ catalysis into pyrolysis process e e e 3.59 0.3 1.16 10.28 e e Dai et al. (2017)
Bio-char without Bentonite 550 e e e e 32.6 0.32 3.99 31.87 e e Dai et al. (2017)
Biochar of Chlorella sp. Cha- 600 30 Microalgae were cultured in photo autotrophic mode, biochar samples were e e e 59.69 6.38 1.67 10.86 0.03 0.18 Zheng et al.
01 ground and passed through a 74-mm sieve (2017)
Biochar of Coelastrum sp. 600 30 e e e 64.405 5.06 1.78 8.55 0.03 0.13 Zheng et al.
Pte-15 (2017)

Chemosphere 272 (2021) 129917

Biochar of Chlamydomonas 600 30 e e e 79.54 6.93 2.35 6.60 0.03 0.08 Zheng et al.
sp. Tai-03 (2017)
peanut hull 300 5 Deionized water and feedstock were used for the production of hydrochar 0.20% 0.02% 0.08% 56.3 0.89 5.6 36.6 e e
hydrochar
H2O2 modified peanut hull 300 5 0.23% 0.03% 0.09% 48.3 0.79 5.8 43.8 e e
hydrochar
R.K. Gautam, M. Goswami, R.K. Mishra et al. Chemosphere 272 (2021) 129917

Fig. 2. Pyrolysis process of bamboo-biochar at a heating rate of 10  C min1 (Source: Liu et al., 2014, Bioresource Technology @ Elsevier).

Vithanage et al. (2014) also synthesized the biochar from bur
cucumber (Sicyos angulatus L.) and applied it for the removal of
sulfamethazine in loamy sand and sandy loam soils under different
pH conditions and sulfamethazine loadings. High temperature
pyrolyzed biochar (700  C) showed a high degree of sulfamethazine
retention. The maximum sulfamethazine retention was observed at
pH 3.0possibly due to the p-p electron donor-acceptor interactions
and electrostatic cation exchange. As the pH rise to 5.0e7.0, the
cation exchange was the main sorption mechanism. Biochar was
able to hold the up to 89% and 82% increase the sulfamethazine
retention in sandy loam and loamy sand soil, respectively.
4. Optimization of process parameters
4.1. Effect of pH, pHzpc and temperature
The pH of the medium greatly affects the speciation of chemicals
and surface charge all over the biochar sorbents (Xu et al., 2011).
The pH at zero-point change (pHzpc), a point where net charges on
the surface of any adsorbent in solution becomes neutral are widely
studied and documented in literature (Oh and Seo, 2016a, 2016b).
The pHzpc influence the adsorption efficiency of active surface of
biochars by providing active functional groups for charged or ionic
pesticides and chemicals in water and thus the Zeta potential of the

Table 6
Recently reported sorption studies of biochar materials for the removal of pesticides.

Biochar material Pesticide Biochar precursor type Sorption pH Reaction Adsorbent Remarks References
capacity time (hr) concentration
(mg/g) (mg/L)

Wood derived Per-chlorate Fir wood chips 10.55 4 Low adsorption but effect of pH and isoelectric pointFang et al.
biochar (ClO4) ions e10 (pHIEP)discussed critically (2014)
Pig manure derived Carbaryl Animal manure 90.6% 9.1 7 d 500 Adsorption takes place on the surface of the biochar Zhang
biochar whereas the metal present in the leachate of biochar et al.
catalyzes the reactions up to 100% (2013a,
2013b)
Pig manure derived Atrazine Animal manure 63.4% 9.1 7 d 500 Adsorption takes place on the surface of the biochar Zhang
biochar whereas the metal present in the leachate of biochar et al.
catalyzes the reactions (2013a,
2013b)
Biochar Organic Azardirachta Indica 80% 8.0 150 min 50 Biochar produced from the bark of Azardirachta Ponnam
pesticide, Indica biomass could be employed as a potential et al.
Bentazone adsorbent for removal of synthetic organic (2020)
pollutants from the water streams.
Magnetized (Fe3O4/ Two Neuro- Exhausted husk, and dry 97.3 10 15 0.4e1.2 Removal of pesticides from water using activated Matos
Biochar Active tannin from barks of black e100% e270 min and magnetized biochars produced from exhausted et al.
Nanocomposites) Pesticides wattle (Acacia mearnsii De husk, and dry tannin from barks of black wattle (2017)
and Activated from Waters Wild.). (Acacia mearnsii De Wild.).
Biochar
coconut shell diazinon coconut shell-modified 98.96 3e9 2 h 0.2e10 Adsorption of diazinon from aqueous solutions onto Baharum
pesticide biochar coconut shell-modified biochar using a batch et al.
system. (2020)

7
R.K. Gautam, M. Goswami, R.K. Mishra et al.
biochar also reveals the nature of the biochar adsorbents.
Enhancement in pH of solution containing biochar, leads to the
negative zeta potential by increasing the negative charges on the
surface of biochar. However, the zeta potential of canola, corn,
soybean, and peanut straws decreased with increased pyrolysis
temperature, hence, biochars produced at low temperatures hold
additional negative surface charges than those produced at higher
temperatures (Yuan et al., 2011). The Fir wood derived biochar was
investigated by Fang et al. (2014) for pH dependent adsorption of
per chlorate(ClO 4 ) ions. It was observed that, the adsorption of
ClO4 ions was controlled by the surface polarities and structural
compositions of the organic components of biochars. The
maximum adsorption capacity of ClO 4 ionswas reported as
10.55 mg/g. Phenanthrene adsorption was carried out by laboratory
produced and field wood biochars and the obtained results showed
that both the surface area and heterogeneity of biochars affects the
adsorption of Phenanthrene (James et al., 2005).
Zheng et al. (2010) synthesized green waste biochar by heating
waste biomass at 450  C and used it for the sorption of pesticides
viz. atrazine and simazine. The size of the biochar particles also
affected the sorption of pesticide and was found that the particles
of smaller size required comparatively less time to reach the
equilibrium. It was also documented that the sorption affinity of the
biochar towards the pesticides was enhanced with the decreased
solid-solution ratio. When the solid/solution ratio was decreased
from 1:50to 1:1000 (g/mL), the adsorbed amount of atrazine and
simazine were increased from 451 to 243 mg/kg to 1158 and
1066 mg/kg, respectively. Low pH of the medium, favored the
sorption of atrazine and simazine on the biochar and Freundlich
isotherm model fitted to the adsorption of pesticides on biochar. In
the strong acidic medium these pesticides form the triazinecations
(Oliveira Jr. et al., 2001). The formation of triazine cations at low pH
increased the adsorption of pesticides by the negatively charged
functional groups of biochars through the electrostatic interaction.
Chintala et al. (2013) studied the remediation of nitrates from so-
lution by biochars obtained from corn stover, Ponderosa pine wood
residue, as well as switch grass. Adsorption was highly dependent
on the pH of solution. When the pH decreased to ~4, the positively
charged functional groups increased on the surface of biochar
possibly due to protonation reactions which ultimately enhanced
the electrostatic interactions between the negatively charged ni-
trates and positively charged surface.
4.2. Effect of agrochemical concentration
Recently, Wu et al. (2013a, 2013b) synthesized the biochar from
lake sediment and the removal capacity of biochar was carried out
for the Phenanthrene and Sulfamethoxazole which exhibited the
improved sorption with increased pyrolysis temperature, while for
bisphenol A, ofloxacin and norfloxacinin, the sorption properties of
original sediment was almost similar e to the thermal pyrolyzed
biochar. Biochar also plays a major role in the bioavailability of
agrochemicals in soil and water (Kumar et al., 2013). Yu et al.
(2009a, 2009b) studied the efficiency of two types of biochars in
reducing the bioavailability of chlorpyrifos and carbofuran in-
secticides to Spring onion (Allium cepa). It was observed that over
35 days, 86e88% of the pesticides were vanished from the control
sample of soil, whereas it was only 51% of carbofuran and 44% of
chlorpyrifos from the soil amended with 1.0% biochar produced at
850  C. Rajapaksha et al. (2014) investigated the influence of bio-
char derived from invasive plants for the uptake of sulfamethazine
by lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) grown in the soils. The sulfamethazine
contaminated soil (5 and 50 mg/kg), was treated with/without 5%
biochar pyrolyzed at 700  C. The obtained result showed that with
5% biochar addition, the uptake of sulfamethazine was reduced by
8
Chemosphere 272 (2021) 129917
86% in the soil spiked with 5 mg/kg sulfamethazine compared to
the control whereas 63% reduction was observed in the soil spiked
with 50 mg/kg sulfamethazine.
4.3. Effect of biochar properties
Development of biochar is greatly dependent on the raw ma-
terial of biomass, carbonization temperature, and residence time,
supply as well as the flow rate of the applied gas (N2, CO2, or Ar)
(Kołtowski et al., 2017; Rehrah et al., 2016). Changes in elemental
composition were observed after the carbonization of biomass
derived biochar. Different biomass derived biochar gives enhanced
surface area and in some cases at higher temperatures the surface
area may be reduced due to the blockage of micro- and meso-pores
of the biochar. Carbonization of biomass at high temperature also
decreases the functional groups like carboxylic, phenolics, amines,
hydroxyls, and esters present in the raw biomass. Such reduction in
the functional groups affects the adsorption properties of biochar
whereas increased surface area has been found beneficial and
favorable for the adsorption of pollutants from wastewater and soil.
Presence of carboxylic and hydroxyl functional groups were
responsible for generation of alkalinity in the biochars (Jiang and
Xu 2013; Zhou et al., 2014) and for the negative charges on the
surface of biochar (Yuan et al., 2011). A neutral pHzpc value of bio-
char is useful for the application in real wastewater treatment and
in soil remediation as it does not need much pH adjustment. The pH
adjustment of medium may kill or harm the beneficial microor-
ganism present in wastewater.
Pine wood biochar adsorbent was prepared by pyrolysis and
applied for the removal of salicylic acid and ibuprofen from
aqueous solutions (Essandoh et al., 2015). Adsorption of both
chemical was pH dependent and maximum removal was obtained
at low pH values. Adsorption was dominated by phenolic hydroxyl
and carboxylic acid functional groups of biochar and conjugate
acid-base equilibrium of salicylic acid and ibuprofen. Pseudo-
second order kinetic followed the sorption mechanism.
Maximum adsorption capacity for salicylic acid was found as
22.7 mg/g on pine wood biochar.
Co-pyrolysis of agro waste rice straw with polypropylene,
polyethylene or polystyrene increased the carbon content, cation-
exchange capacity, and surface area of the synthesized biochar
(Oh and Seo, 2016a, 2016b). They found the higher adsorption ef-
ficiency of biochar for the 2, 4-dinitrotoluene form aqueous solu-
tion. The enhanced adsorption of 2, 4-dinitrotoluene was due to the
increased aromaticity and hydrophobicity.
4.4. Effect of time
It has been found that the sorption efficiency of biochar in soil
was reduced as time increased (Lou et al., 2013). This reduction in
the sorption efficiency was hypothesized due to the presence of
natural organic matter. Lou et al. (2013) studied the effect of humic
acid coating on rice straw biochar for the sorption of pentachlo-
rophenol and observed that the coating transformed the surface
properties of biochar which reduced the sorption capacity by
blocking the micropores. Zhelezova et al. (2017) the potential of
biochar for soil amendment, ability to adsorb and degrade haz-
ardous chemicals such as insecticides and pesticides. These authors
have also demonstrated the mechanism of biochar affecting
adsorption and degradation of herbicides diuron (3-(3,4-
dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea) and glyphosate (N-(phospho-
nomethyl)-glycine) in agro-soil and modulation of activity of bio-
char due to ageing.
R.K. Gautam, M. Goswami, R.K. Mishra et al.
4.5. Effect of coexisting ions on biochar
Competitive study with phosphate (PO3 4 ) and sulfate (SO4 )
2
ions demonstrated the significant drop in the adsorption of nitrate
ions (NO3 ) on biochar (Chintala et al., 2013). It is evident that this
decrease in nitrate ion adsorption was due to the preferential
adsorption of more negatively charged anion such as such as
phosphate and sulfate. In the presence of phosphate ion, the
decrease in the adsorption of nitrate was higher in corn stover
(71.3%) and switch grass (74.2%) than the Ponderosa pine wood
residue (57.6%) among non-activated biochars. However, HCl acti-
vated biochar exhibited the decrease up to 75% for the nitrate
adsorption in presence of phosphate ions, which is only 38e54%in
presence of sulfate ion. Fig. 3 illustrates various application of
biochar and mechanism of uptake of phosphorous nanoparticles
from microorganisms and plants.
4.6. Effects of kinetic parameters
The kinetic parameters play very important role in the biochar
adsorption. These kinetics parameters viz. adsorption isotherms,
sorption kinetics and microbial growth kinetics play very impor-
tant role in the hybrid treatment system. Table 7 presents the
various kinetic parameters studies and their application for the
removal as well as biodegradation of several pollutants and biochar
material. Goswami et al. (2020) reported the use of Monod model
to analyze the microbial growth kinetics for the degradation of
Congo red dye. Authors have plotted between microbial growths
rates (m) against substrate concentration (S) which showed a linear
relationship. The kinetics parameters mmax and Ks were found to be
0.461/day and 39.44 mg/L, respectively and it is concluded that the
lower value of mmax and high value of Ks favored the biodegradation
of the dye. Another set of studies were conducted by Ahmad et al.
(2020) and Khan et al. (2020) for the adsorption of Methylene blue
and Congo red dyes, where in a batch experiment, the removal
efficiencies of the Congo red dye were 66.8e96.9% and 68.9e98.8%
using Rice Husk and Cow Dung biochar respectively. The values of
adsorption isotherm obtained as for Langmuir (R2 ¼ 0.977 and
0.902) and Freundlich (R2 ¼ 0.842 and 0.883) for the Rice Husk
biochar and Cow Dung biochar respectively. Ahmad et al. (2020)
reported the adsorption isotherm of Langmuir constant (KL) as
0.101, 0.583 and 0.128 for Rice Husk biochar, Cow Dung and Sludge
biochar respectively while, adsorption kinetics of pseudo first order
were 0.068, 0.018, and 0.066 for Rice Husk, Cow Dung and Sludge
biochar respectively. The pseudo second order kinetics was also
reported as 0.031, 0.023 and 0.273 for the Rice Husk, Cow Dung and
Sludge Biochar, respectively. A mechanism depicted removal of dye
effluent using biochar produced from Chinese fan palm seed has
been shown in Fig. 3, which explains the capability of biochar for
subsequent adsorption and removal of dye contaminants from
wastewater.
5. Key challenges
5.1. Cost analysis and assessment
Application of biochar for environmental remediation gained an
increase momentum nowadays due to low cost, high adsorption
efficiency, less energy consumption, good yield, and ease in use in
wastewater and soil. It has been estimated that production biochar
is cheap in comparison to commercial activated carbon due to low
energy consumption and little activation of synthesized biochar.
The estimated cost of biochar has been calculated as US$246 per ton
9
Chemosphere 272 (2021) 129917
whereas the activated carbon costs around US$1500 per ton
(Klasson et al., 2009; Ahmad et al., 2012). According to a study, the
basic commercial cost of biochar ranged between US$ 0.8e18 per
kg (Alhashimi and Aktas, 2017). These prices for biochar shows that
the low cost biochar can be widely utilized their potential in the
wastewater treatment and soil remediation. Biochar have been also
obtained from bio oil manufacturing factories as a byproduct which
can be efficiently used for the remediation of a variety of pollutants
from environment.
Cost assessment is identified as most critical aspect for the study
of any application including remediation of contaminants. Physico-
chemical processes employed for removal of pollutants are non-
desirable due the high cost and energy requirements. Similarly,
microbial studies are extensive, time consuming and less efficient.
Hence, to overcome such situations continuous efforts have been
made to utilize adsorption-based technologies such as biochar,
which found to be cost-effective. For instance, Goswami et al. has
reported the synthesis of Arjuna seeds produced through pyrolysis
unit having batch capacity of 4.75 L. In batch production 0.6 kg
biomass provides yield of 40% and 440-ml bio-oil. Energy con-
sumption was by pyrolysis unit was about 4.2 kW or 0.75 $ per kg.
Raw material was available free of cost and was not added to the
final cost. Pyrolysis unit, that is one-time investment costed around
720 $. However, transportation, biomass cleaning, and labour
charge cost up to 0.15 $ per kg biochar produced. Thus, total cost
was approximated around 0.91 $ per kg which also produce 440 ml
of bio-oil that could be utilized in further applications.
5.2. Toxicity associated with biochar
Biochar have been widely applied in water and soil throughout
the world for the abatement of pollution and revealed exciting
result in achieving the permissible guidelines as recommended by
world health organization. However, extensive use of biochar in
wastewater treatment and soil remediation may pose toxicity to
the exposed animals, plants, microorganisms, and agricultural
crops after the direct contact with contaminant loaded biochar.
During the treatment the biochar may be absorbed by the living
cells and tissues of the microorganism, agricultural crops, and
plants. Therefore, it may show the toxic effects on biotic environ-
ment due to the adsorbed toxic materials on biochars (Bharti et al.,
2019; Giri et al., 2020a). Pyrolysis of biomass at high temperature
increases the surface area which helps in the high efficiency
adsorption of pesticides and toxic materials from water and soil
(Kołtowski et al., 2017). Yet, adsorption of agrochemicals may be
reduced due to the presence of organic matter in the environmental
matrix.
5.3. Recovery and disposal of used biochar
Ahmad et al. (2012) examined the recycling of trichloethylene
adsorbed biochar using n-hexane as a desorbing solvent. It was
noted that, only 20% trichloethylene was desorbed by the solvent
from biochar which shows strong affinity of trichloethylene for
biochar surface functional groups. It was suggested that the diffu-
sion processes may have dominated desorption of trichloethylene
from biochar and the presence of non-carbonized fraction in bio-
char may have shielded the pores of biochar resulting in less
desorption (Bharti et al., 2017; Bharti et al., 2019). These authors
have used the different kinds of biochar from the agro waste Chi-
nese fan palm seed, Arjun seed, Casuarina (abundantly available in
India as agro-waste) and Ashoka seed biochar for the removal of
several dyes compounds including methylene blue, Congo red,
R.K. Gautam, M. Goswami, R.K. Mishra et al. Chemosphere 272 (2021) 129917

Fig. 3. Different application of biochar and basic mechanisms of uptake of phosphorus nanoparticles by plants and the role microorganisms.

Table 7
Profile of adsorption kinetics and isotherm from the various kinds of pollutants and biochar used.

Biochar/Biomass Pollutants Type of Removal First Order Second Order Langmuir Freundlich Temkin References
(Dyes) treatment efficiencies
system

Rice Husk, Methylene Adsorption 71.0e99.0 0.068 0.031 0.101 n:<1; R2:0.952 e Ahmad et al.
blue dye (2020)
Cow Dung, Methylene Adsorption 97.0e99.0 0.018 0.023 0.583 n: <1; e Ahmad et al.
blue dye R2:0.927
Sludge Methylene Adsorption 73.0e98.9 0.066 0.273 0.128 n: <1; e Ahmad et al.
blue dye R2:0.715
Rice Husk, Congo red Adsorption 66.8e96.9 e e Qe; 15.81; R2 0.842 e Khan et al.
R2 0.977 (2020)
2
Cow Dung Congo red Adsorption 68.9e98.8 e e Qe: 12.46; R 0.883 e Khan et al.
R2 0.902 (2020)
Casuarina seed biochar Methylene Biodegradation 96.2% qe:1.27; qe:1.22; qe:4.97; qe:1.62; e Bharti et al.
blue dye k1:0.02; k2:0.04; kL:0.83; R2:0.878 (2019)
R2:0.97 R2:0.959 R2:0.97
Indian Bael Patent Blue Adsorption 74% qe:1.72; qe:2.49; qe:16.53; Kf:0.183; e
Shell Biochar (Aegle marmelos) (V) Dye k1:0.03; k2:0.016; R2:0.4223 R2:0.968
R2:0.96 R2:0.972
Coconut Shell Biochar Congo red Biodegradation 95.71% e e e e R2:0.9881;
dye qe:0.023
Almond Shell Powder Micro-Porous Hexavalent Adsorption 202.34 mg/ qe:9.89; qe:47.6; Qm:195; Kf:79.35; AT:862.64;
Activated Carbon chromium g k1:0.02; k2:0.182; B:0.024: n:1.334; BT:226.67;
R2:0.94 R2:0.999 R2:0.98; R2:0.8945 R2:0.643
RL:0.45
80% Woodchips (spruce, pine and fir) and Hydrogen Anaerobic >98% qe:0.31; Qe:1.94; e e e Kanjanarong
20% anaerobic digester residue biochar Sulfide Treatment k1:0.04; R2:>0.99; et al. (2017)
R2:0.73 k2:0.73

10
R.K. Gautam, M. Goswami, R.K. Mishra et al. Chemosphere 272 (2021) 129917

malachite green, auromine dye and agrochemicals including pes- material, sensing material, alternative for carbon black (Banek et al.,
ticides and insecticides. They have also reported the recovery and 2018), and battery industry material.
re-usability of biochar around 6e8 times with very effective
adsorption capacities in the range of 90e98%. These biochar may be
6. Conclusions
further used as the bio-fertilizer to enhance the soil fertilities as per
the crop requirements.
This review explains that the biochar can play an important role
for developing a sustainable solution to deal with various envi-
5.4. Future perspectives
ronmental pollutants including agrochemicals containing pesti-
cides and insecticides from different environmental samples.
Due to the large number of functional groups and increased
Biochar and biochar based nanocomposites have also shown the
surface area, biochars provide the strong interactions between
potential to decontaminate the synthetic organic dyes from water
surface of biochar and different environmental contaminants pre-
and wastewater. Literature survey shows that most of the studies
sent in soil and water (Wu et al., 2013a, 2013b; Kumar et al., 2020).
are conducted in batch mode under laboratory at controlled con-
However, contaminant loaded biochar also may possess risk related
ditions, hence, there is an urgent need to further explore the po-
to the safe disposal and hence introduce a new challenge to the
tential of biochar and biochar based nanocomposites in real
scientific community regarding the possibility of the altered envi-
environmental system at larger industrial scale. Solution pH highly
ronmental mobility of these contaminants, thus changing the
affects the sorption rate as it controls the active sites of biochar and
framework for the contaminant risk assessment in the environ-
also affects the speciation of agrochemicals. Thus, biochar those
ment. Therefore, at the laboratory scale study, it is necessary that
work at neutral pH in the remediation of complex environmental
one should get the deep information regarding the chemical and
contaminant is of urgent need. Efforts should be made to synthe-
physical interaction mechanism between biochars and the con-
sized and functionalized biochars based nanocomposites which
taminants present in wastewater and soil (Bharti et al., 2017).
should work at neutral pH within a smaller equilibrium time.
Because of these fact, the secondary risk is always associated with
Furthermore, a comprehensive study performed on potential of
any budding technology, and hence the use of loaded biochar for
biochar and biochar based nanocomposites to decontaminate the
the conversion into bio-oil may be become an interesting area
dye pollutants from water bodies and soil was also reviewed. Bio-
which needs to be explored. Efforts have been taken for the pro-
char based nanocomposites can be effectively used in the remedi-
duction of bio-oil from the used biochar materials by the catalyst
ation of dyes from wastewater at larger scale. Literature survey
supported fast pyrolysis or through hydrothermal conversion (Dai
revealed that pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order, and intra-
et al., 2017a, 2017b; Khan et al., 2020). Numerous studies have
particle diffusion kinetic models were effectively used to optimize
been reported for mitigation of gases generated from anaerobic
the reaction rates between biochar based sorbents and agro-
digestion and hydrogen sulfide (Kanjanarong et al., 2017; Oliveira
chemicals and synthetics organic dyes. Adsorption equilibrium for
et al., 2020). These authors have presented impact of sulfide pro-
sorption of agrochemicals is widely studied using the Langmuir and
duction on anaerobic digestion and product formation. A detailed
Freundlich isotherm models. Thermodynamics also plays a major
process has been proposed for the similar studies and the treated
role in the remediation of recalcitrant agrochemicals on biochar
biochar application as bio-fertilizer. Owing to effective physical and
based composites from different environmental samples. Co-
chemical properties, nano-biochar has attracted the attention of
existing ions largely affects the sorption of agrochemicals as they
scientific community. Various literatures have been published
compete for active binding sites in wastewater and soil thus re-
explaining its potential and applications (Ramanayaka et al., 2020).
duces the sorption capacity of biochar nanocomposites. Hence,
Numerous efforts have been made to ascertain novel synthetic
there is further need of development in biochar based nano-
methods for nano-biochar preparation. Moreover, various aspects
composites which are selective in nature. Moreover, the exhausted
of preparation, synthesis, and application of nano-biochar have
or saturated biochars need not to be regenerated because of the
been reported (Ramanayaka et al., 2020). Nano-biochar are pro-
abundant availability of the biomass being used for the preparation
duced by mechanically grounding them using milling into parent
of these biochars. However, the possibility should be explored to
biochar synthesized from biomass pyrolysis. In addition, direct
recycle and regenerate the used biochar based nanocomposites as it
fabrication using flash heating developing graphic nano-sheets has
will minimize the cost at industrial scale. Several inherent physical
been reported. Properties of nano-biochar are greatly influenced by
properties such as enhanced surface area, high porosity, tunable
the process conditions. For instance, 32 times greater BET specific
composition, firm carbon architecture and easy fabrication make
surface area has been observed in 70% of 33 nano-biochar produced
the biochar an ideal candidate for a variety of beneficial applica-
at >450  C than synthesized at lower temperature (<450  C). Nano-
tions. Despite of biochar, bio-oil is one of the most important liquid
biochar has demonstrated its application in sensors, super capaci-
found which has a lot of advantages including medicinal, cosmetics
tors, electrode material, health care, and wastewater treatment.
and recently researchers are working in the area of its research like
However, the evaluation of toxic effects on human and environ-
bio-pesticides and bio-insecticides to control the environmental
mental health posed by nano-biochar has not received much
pollutants. This review recommends that there is need to more
attention. Still nano-biochar faces some critical problems like low
work on bio-oil to explore its beneficial capacities.
yield, high agglomeration potential, and drawbacks in recovery
from environmental matrices which needs to be further improved.
Despite accelerated use of nano-biochar, research data available is Credit authors statement
found to be insufficient to infer behavior and nature of nano-
biochar. Therefore, future research should be focused on to iden- Ravindra Kumar Gautam, Mandavi Goswami, Balendu Shekhar
tify strategies to reduce agglomeration, improved synthesis pro- Giri, Manuscript drafting, preparation and writing, Rakesh K. Mis-
tocols, enhance nano-biochar yield, and recognize toxicological hra, Mukesh Kumar Awasthi, Review editing to improve the
impact. Nanobiochar has been used in various applications for the manuscript quality, Ram Sharan Singh, Preeti Chaturvedi, Ashok
contaminant removal material (Lyu et al., 2020), catalyst (Naghdi Pandey, Supervision and critical comments to improve the
et al., 2016), biomolecule carrier (Jiang et al., 2020), electrode manuscript.

11
R.K. Gautam, M. Goswami, R.K. Mishra et al.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing
financial interests or personal relationships that could have
appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
Ravindra Kumar Gautam is thankful to UGC New Delhi for
providing JRF, SRF and DSK-Postdoctoral Fellowships (No. F. 4-2/
2006(BSR)/CH/17e18/0271). The author (Balendu Shekher Giri) are
highly thankful to Director, Centre for Energy and Environmental
Sustainability, Lucknow 226 029, India for his valuable
encouragement.
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