Efficient Remediation of Cadmium- and Lead-Contaminated Water by Using Fe-Modified Date Palm Waste Biochar-Based Adsorbents

Heavy metals pollution of water resources is an emerging concern worldwide and seeks immediate attention. Date palm waste was transformed into biochar (BC), which was further modified through Fe-intercalation for the production of magnetic biochar (Fe-BC) in this study. The produced BC and Fe-BC were analyzed for chemical, proximate, surface, and elemental composition. The efficiency of the produced adsorbents to decontaminate the water from Cd 2+ and Pb 2+ ions was investigated through kinetics and an isotherm adsorption batch trial. Kinetics adsorption data fit well with the pseudo-second order and power function model, while equilibrium data were described well with the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. The maximum adsorption capacity as shown by the Langmuir model was the highest for Fe-BC for both Cd 2+ (48.44 mg g −1 ) and Pb 2+ (475.14 mg g −1 ), compared with that of BC (26.78 mg g −1 Cd 2+ and 160.07 mg g −1 Pb 2+ ). Both materials showed higher removal of Pb (36.34% and 99.90% on BC and Fe-BC, respectively) as compared with Cd (5.23% and 12.28% on BC and Fe-BC, respectively) from a binary solution. Overall, Fe-BC was more efficient in adsorbing both of the studied metals from contaminated water. The application of Fe-BC resulted in 89% higher adsorption of Cd 2+ and 197% higher adsorption of Pb 2+ from aqueous media as compared to BC. Kinetics and isotherm models as well as SEM–EDS analysis of the post-adsorption adsorbents suggested multiple adsorption mechanisms including chemisorption, pore-diffusion, and electrostatic interactions.