Investigating the sorption behavior of cadmium from aqueous solution by potassium permanganate-modified biochar: quantify mechanism and evaluate the modification method.

In this work, a KMnO4-modified-biochar-based composite material with manganese oxide produced at 600 °C was fabricated to investigate the sorption mechanism of Cd(II) and to comprehensively evaluate the effect of the modification on biochar properties. Cd(II) adsorption mechanisms were mainly controlled by interaction with minerals, complexation with oxygen-containing functional groups, and cation-π interaction. The sorption capacity was significantly reduced after a deash treatment of biochar, almost shrunk by 3 and 3.5 times for pristine biochar (PBC) and modified biochar (MBC). For deashed PBC, oxygen-containing functional groups were the main contributor toward Cd(II) adsorption while interaction with minerals was significantly compromised and became negligible. The sorption capacity was also apparently decreased after the deash treatment of MBC; however, for deashed MBC, interaction with minerals still was the main contributor to the sorption ability, which could be attributed to the mechanism of interaction of Cd(II) with loaded MnOx on biochar. Cation-π interaction in MBC was notably enhanced compared to PBC due to the oxidation of KMnO4 on biomass. Also, sorption performance by oxygen-containing functional groups was also enhanced. Hence, the modification by KMnO4 has a significant effect on the Cd(II) sorption performance of biochar.