Magnetic activated carbon prepared from rice straw-derived hydrochar for triclosan removal

Abstract

Recently, considerable attention has been given to the hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of waste rice straw for the production of bio-oil and hydrochar. However, hydrochar material could not be directly applied in the environmental field, due to its limited porosity and surface area. In order to improve the porosity and adsorption capacity of rice straw-derived hydrochar, it was activated and magnetized to a magnetic activated carbon. The activation condition for hydrochar was firstly considered, due to the negative effect of the magnetic medium. Results suggested that the as-prepared magnetic activated carbon possessed a large surface area (around 674 m² g⁻¹), and exhibited both a high adsorption capacity and a fast adsorption rate for triclosan (TCS) removal. In addition, magnetic activated carbon can be easily recovered from aqueous solutions by an external magnetic field. Overall, the waste rice straw-derived hydrochar can be transformed to a highly efficient magnetic adsorbent for TCS removal.