Efficacy of biochar in removal of organic pesticide, Bentazone from watershed systems

Alleviate environmental concerns with biochar as a container substrate: a review

Peat moss has desirable properties as a container substrate, however, harvesting it from peatland for greenhouse/nursery production use has disturbed peatland ecosystem and caused numerous environmental concerns. More recently, many nations have taken actions to reduce or ban peat moss production to reach the carbon neutral goal and address the environmental concerns. Also, the overuse of fertilizers and pesticides with peat moss in greenhouse/nursery production adds extra environmental and economic issues. Thus, it is urgent to find a peat moss replacement as a container substrate for greenhouse/nursery production. Biochar, a carbon-rich material with porous structure produced by the thermo-chemical decomposition of biomass in an oxygen-limited or oxygen-depleted atmosphere, has drawn researchers' attention for the past two decades. Using biochar to replace peat moss as a container substrate for greenhouse/nursery production could provide environmental and economic benefits. Biochar could be derived from various feedstocks that are regenerated faster than peat moss, and biochar possesses price advantages over peat moss when local feedstock is available. Certain types of biochar can provide nutrients, accelerate nutrient adsorption, and suppress certain pathogens, which end up with reduced fertilizer and pesticide usage and leaching. However, among the 36,474 publications on biochar, 1,457 focused on using biochar as a container substrate, and only 68 were used to replace peat moss as a container substrate component. This study provides a review for the environmental and economic concerns associated with peat moss and discussed using biochar as a peat moss alternative to alleviate these concerns.

Biochar Derived from Pineapple Leaf Non-Fibrous Materials and Its Adsorption Capability for Pesticides

Non-fibrous materials (NFMs) are typically discarded during pineapple leaf fiber processing. The underutilized NFM waste was proposed for use in this work as a raw material for the production of biochar . The removal of pesticides (acetamiprid, imidacloprid, or methomyl) from water was then investigated using the NFM derived biochar (NFMBC). The pseudo-second-order kinetic data suggested chemisorption of pesticide on NFMBC. While acetamiprid or imidacloprid adsorption on NFMBC occurred primarily via multi-layered adsorption (best fitted with the Freundlich isotherms), the Sips adsorption isotherms matched with the experimental data, implying heterogeneous adsorption of methomyl on the biochar surface. The adsorption capacities for acetamiprid, methomyl, and imidacloprid are 82.18, 36.16, and 28.98 mg g^-1, respectively, which are in agreement with the order of the polarity (low to high) of pesticides. Adsorption capacities indicated that the NFMBC preferably removed low-polarity pesticides from water sources. Since pineapple leaves provide fibers and NFMs for materials development, this study should promote an extended agro-waste utilization approach and full-cycle resource management in pineapple fields.

Low-cost materials as vehicles for pesticides in aquatic media: a review of the current status of different biosorbents employed, optimization by RSM approach

Water contamination by pesticides is increasing dramatically due to population growth and the extensive use of pesticides in agriculture, leading to grave environmental and health concerns. Thus, efficient processes and the design and development of effective treatment technologies are required due to the enormous demand for fresh water. The adsorption approach has been widely used to remove organic contaminants such as pesticides because of its performance, less expense, high selectivity, and simplicity of operation compared to other treatment technologies. Among alternative adsorbents, biomaterials abundantly available for pesticide sorption from water resources have attracted the attention of researchers worldwide. The main objective of this review article is to (i) present studies on a wide range of raw or chemically modified biomaterials potentially effective in removing pesticides from aqueous media; (ii) indicating the effectiveness of biosorbents as green and low-cost materials for removing pesticides from wastewater; and (iii) furthermore, report the application of response surface methodology (RSM) for modeling and optimizing adsorption.

Global distribution of pesticides in freshwater resources and their remediation approaches

The role of pesticides in enhancing global agricultural production is magnificent. However, their unmanaged use threatens water resources and individual health. A significant pesticide concentration leaches to groundwater or reaches surface waters through runoff. Water contaminated with pesticides may cause acute or chronic toxicity to impacted populations and exert adverse environmental effects. It necessitates the monitoring and removing pesticides from water resources as prime global concerns. This work reviewed the global occurrences of pesticides in potable water and discussed the conventional and advanced technologies for the removal of pesticides. The concentration of pesticides highly varies in freshwater resources across the globe. The highest concentration of α-HCH (6.538 μg/L, at Yucatan, Mexico), lindane (6.08 μg/L at Chilka lake, Odisha, India), 2,4, DDT (0.90 μg/L, at Akkar, Lebanon), chlorpyrifos (9.1 μg/L, at Kota, Rajasthan, India), malathion (5.3 μg/L, at Kota, Rajasthan, India), atrazine (28.0 μg/L, at Venado Tuerto City, Argentina), endosulfan (0.78 μg/L, at Yavtmal, Maharashtra, India), parathion (4.17 μg/L, at Akkar, Lebanon), endrin (3.48 μg/L, at KwaZuln-Natl Province, South Africa) and imidacloprid (1.53 μg/L, at Son-La province, Vietnam) are reported. Pesticides can be significantly removed through physical, chemical, and biological treatment. Mycoremediation technology has the potential for up to 90% pesticide removal from water resources. Complete removal of the pesticides through a single biological treatment approach such as mycoremediation, phytoremediation, bioremediation, and microbial fuel cells is still a challenging task, however, the integration of two or more biological treatment approaches can attain complete removal of pesticides from water resources. Physical methods along with oxidation methods can be employed for complete removal of pesticides from drinking water.

Utilizing modified cellulose nanoparticles derived from a plant loofah sponge to improve the removal of diazinon insecticide from an aqueous medium

Organophosphate insecticides, such as diazinon, have been well investigated to pose health and environmental risks. In this study, ferric-modified nanocellulose composite (FCN) and nanocellulose particles (CN) based on a natural source as a loofah sponge were synthesized to verify their adsorption potential to eliminate diazinon (DZ) from contaminated water. The as-prepared adsorbents were characterized by performing TGA, XRD, FTIR spectroscopy, SEM, TEM, pH_PZC, and BET analyses, in which FCN showed high thermal stability, surface area of 82.65 m² g^-1, surface with mesopores, good crystallinity (61.6%), and particle size of 86.0 nm. The results of adsorption tests demonstrated that the maximum Langmuir adsorption capacity (294.98 mg g^-1) was exhibited by FCN at 38 °C, pH 7, 1.0 g L^-1 of adsorbent dosage, and 20 h of contact shaking time. The effect of adding KCl solution with high ionic strength (1.0 mol L^-1) reduced the DZ removal percent by 52.9%. The experimental adsorption data achieved the best fit with all the applied isotherm models with favorable, physical, and endothermic nature of adsorption consistent with thermodynamic data. Pentanol attained higher desorption efficiency (95%) and was used in five adsorption/desorption cycles in which FCN exhibited only an 8.8% decrease in the removal percent of DZ.

A review on the applicability of adsorption techniques for remediation of recalcitrant pesticides

Pesticide has revolutionised the agricultural industry by reducing yield losses and by enhancing productivity. But indiscriminate usage of such chemicals can negatively impact human health and ecosystem balance as certain pesticides can be recalcitrant in nature. Out of some of the suggested sustainable techniques to remove the pesticide load from the environment, adsorption is found to be highly efficient and can also be implemented on a large scale. It has been observed that natural adsorption that takes place after the application of the pesticide is not enough to reduce the pesticide load, hence, adsorbents like activated carbon, plant-based adsorbents, agricultural by-products, silica materials, polymeric adsorbents, metal organic framework etc are being experimented upon. It is becoming increasingly important to choose adsorbents which will not leave any secondary pollutant after treatment and the cost of production of such adsorbent should be feasible. In this review paper, it has been established that certain adsorbent like biochar, hydrochar, resin, metal organic framework etc can efficiently remove pesticides namely chlorpyrifos, diazinon, 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid, atrazine, fipronil, imidacloprid etc. The mechanism of adsorption, thermodynamics and kinetic part have been discussed in detail with respect to the pesticide and adsorbent under discussion. The reason behind choosing an adsorbent for the removal of a particular pesticide have also been explained. It is further highly recommended to carry out a cost analysis before implementing an absorbent because inspite of its efficacy, it might not be cost effective to use it for a particular type of pesticide or contaminant.

Fate of endosulfan in ginseng farm and effect of granular biochar treatment on endosulfan accumulation in ginseng

Endosulfan was widely used as an insecticide in the agricultural sector before its environmental persistence was fully understood. Although its fate and transport in the environment have been studied, the effects of historic endosulfan residues in soil and its bioaccumulation in crops are not well understood. This knowledge gap was addressed by investigating the dissipation and bioaccumulation of endosulfan in ginseng as a perennial crop in fresh and aged endosulfan-contaminated fields. In addition, the effect of granular biochar (GBC) treatment on the bioaccumulation factor (BAF) of endosulfan residue in ginseng was assessed. The 50% dissipation time (DT₅₀) of the total endosulfan was over 770 days in both the fresh and aged soils under mulching conditions. This was at least twofold greater than the reported (6- > 200 days) in arable soil. Among the endosulfan congeners, the main contributor to the soil residue was endosulfan sulfate, as observed from 150 days after treatment. The BAF for the 2-year-old ginseng was similar in the fresh (1.682-2.055) and aged (1.372-2.570) soils, whereas the BAF for the 3-year-old ginseng in the aged soil (1.087-1.137) was lower than that in the fresh soil (1.771-2.387). The treatment with 0.3 wt% GBC extended the DT₅₀ of endosulfan in soil; however, this could successfully suppress endosulfan uptake, and reduced the BAFs by 66.5-67.7% in the freshly contaminated soil and 32.3-41.4% in the aged soil. Thus, this adsorbent treatment could be an effective, financially viable, and sustainable option to protect human health by reducing plant uptake of endosulfan from contaminated soils.

Bio-efficacy of imidazolinones in weed control in a tropical paddy soil amended with optimized agrowaste-derived biochars

Biochar is a black carbon sorbent that has the ability to stabilize organic substances in soil and, therefore, the potential to reduce their bio-availability. This sustainable material can be produced from locally-available agro wastes. The present study, for the first time, investigated the effects of biochars produced from oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB) and rice husk (RH) on the efficiency of imazapic and imazapyr (two polar members of imidazolinone herbicides) as well as Onduty®, a mixture of them. It was executed in a Malaysian paddy field soil during a 30-day greenhouse experiment. The presence of optimized EFB and RH biochars in the heavy soil generally increases weed seeds germination and plants growth due to stabilization of the herbicides. The effect of EFB biochar was found higher than RH biochar having a higher affinity to the herbicides. An increase in the biochars application rates enhanced their effects as a soil modifier. Differences were more significant in the higher herbicides doses. Efficacies of all the herbicides were generally decreased in the biochar-amended soils. In the presence of 0.5% biochar in soil, the GR₅₀ values for all herbicides were almost similar to biochar-free soil. In a 1.0% biochar-soil mixture, GR₅₀ values of the herbicides increased by about 1.5 times. Bio-efficacies of the herbicides decreased by around 2.0 times as the biochar application rate enhanced to 2.0%. The greatest GR₅₀ values were obtained in the presence of 4.0% biochar in the soils and were about 7.0-8.5 folds, indicating the high capability of amended soil in the stabilization of the herbicides. The findings of this study can help to reduce imidazolinones' pollution and, in this way, prevent the threats of their residues to the environment.

Biochar-based composites for remediation of polluted wastewater and soil environments: Challenges and prospects

Pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, pesticides, and dyes are the main environmental contaminants that have serious effects on both land and aquatic lives and necessitate the development of effective methods to mitigate these issues. Although some conventional methods are in use to tackle soil contamination, but biochar and biochar-based composites represent a reliable and sustainable means to deal with a spectrum of toxic organic and inorganic pollutants from contaminated environments. The capacity of biochars and derived constructs to remediate inorganic dyes, pesticides, insecticides, heavy metals, and pharmaceuticals from environmental matrices is attributed to their extensive surface area, surface functional groups, pore size distribution, and high sorption capability of these pollutants in water and soil environments. Application conditions, biochar feedstock, pyrolysis conditions and precursor materials are the factors that influence the capacity and functionality of biochar to adsorb pollutants from wastewater and soil. These factors, when improved, can benefit biochar in agrochemical and heavy metal remediation from various environments. However, the processes involved in biochar production and their influence in enhancing pollutant sequestration remain unclear. Therefore, this paper throws light on the current strategies, operational conditions, and sequestration performance of biochar and biochar-based composites for agrochemical and heavy metal in soil and water environments. The main challenges associated with biochar preparation and exploitation, toxicity evaluation, research directions and future prospects for biochar in environmental remediation are also outlined.

Engineered biochar: A multifunctional material for energy and environment

Biochar is a stable carbon-rich product loaded with upgraded properties obtained by thermal cracking of biomasses in an oxygen-free atmosphere. The pristine biochar is further modified to produce engineered biochar via various physical, mechanical, and chemical methods. The hasty advancement in engineered biochar synthesis via different technologies and their application in the field of energy and environment is a topical issue that required an up-to-date review. Therefore, this review deals with comprehensive and recent mechanistic approaches of engineered biochar synthesis and its further application in the field of energy and the environment. Synthesis and activation of engineered biochar via various methods has been deliberated in brief. Furthermore, this review systematically covered the impacts of engineered biochar amendment in the composting process, anaerobic digestion (AD), soil microbial community encouragement, and their enzymatic activities. Finally, this review provided a glimpse of the knowledge gaps and challenges associated with application of engineered biochar in various fields, which needs urgent attention in future research.

Sustainable materials in the removal of pesticides from contaminated water: Perspective on macro to nanoscale cellulose

Recently, over utilization of pesticides in agrarian and non- agrarian sectors has resulted in a significant increment in the deposition of their remnants in different segments of the environmental media. The presence of pesticides and transportation of their different metabolites in rivers, ponds, lakes, soils, air, groundwater sources and drinkable water sources has demonstrated a high threat to human wellbeing and the climate. Thus, the removal of pesticides and their metabolites from contaminated water is imperative to lessen the ill effects of pesticides on human beings. In the present article, we have appraised recent advances in pesticides removal utilizing low cost pristine and functionalized cellulose biomass-based derivatives. One of the key focus has been on better understand the destiny of pesticides in the environment as well as their behaviour in the water. In addition, the impact of magnetite cellulose nanocomposites, cellulose derived photo nano-catalyst, cellulose/clay nano composites, CdS/cellulose nanocomposites and activated carbons/biochar on percent removal of pesticides have also been a part of the current review. The impact of different parameters such as adsorbent dosage, pH, time of contact and initials pesticide concentration on adsorption capacity and adsorption kinetics followed during absorption by different cellulosic bio-adsorbents has also been given. The cellulosic biomass is highly efficient in the removal of pesticides and their efficiency further increases upon functionalization or their conversion into activated carbons forms. Nano particles loaded cellulosic materials have in general found to be less efficient than raw, functionalized cellulosic materials and activated carbons. Further, among different nano particles loaded with cellulose-based materials, cellulose/MnO₂ photonanocatalyst were noticed to be more effective. So considerable efforts should be given to determine the finest practices that relate to the dissipation of different pesticides from the water.

Environmental Occurrence, Toxicity Concerns, and Degradation of Diazinon Using a Microbial System

Diazinon is an organophosphorus pesticide widely used to control cabbage insects, cotton aphids and underground pests. The continuous application of diazinon in agricultural activities has caused both ecological risk and biological hazards in the environment. Diazinon can be degraded via physical and chemical methods such as photocatalysis, adsorption and advanced oxidation. The microbial degradation of diazinon is found to be more effective than physicochemical methods for its complete clean-up from contaminated soil and water environments. The microbial strains belonging to Ochrobactrum sp., Stenotrophomonas sp., Lactobacillus brevis, Serratia marcescens, Aspergillus niger, Rhodotorula glutinis, and Rhodotorula rubra were found to be very promising for the ecofriendly removal of diazinon. The degradation pathways of diazinon and the fate of several metabolites were investigated. In addition, a variety of diazinon-degrading enzymes, such as hydrolase, acid phosphatase, laccase, cytochrome P450, and flavin monooxygenase were also discovered to play a crucial role in the biodegradation of diazinon. However, many unanswered questions still exist regarding the environmental fate and degradation mechanisms of this pesticide. The catalytic mechanisms responsible for enzymatic degradation remain unexplained, and ecotechnological techniques need to be applied to gain a comprehensive understanding of these issues. Hence, this review article provides in-depth information about the impact and toxicity of diazinon in living systems and discusses the developed ecotechnological remedial methods used for the effective biodegradation of diazinon in a contaminated environment.

Biochar-facilitated remediation of nanoplastic contaminated water: Effect of pyrolysis temperature induced surface modifications

"Nanoplastics- the emerging contaminants" and "agricultural waste to resource conversion" both are currently at the scientific frontiers and require solutions. This study aims to utilize sugarcane bagasse-derived biochar for the removal of nanoplastics (NPs) from aqueous environment. Three types of biochar were synthesized at three different pyrolysis temperatures, i.e. 350, 550, and 750 ℃ and evaluated for their potential in removing NPs. Effect of various environmental parameters, i.e., competing ions, pH, humic acid and complex aqueous matrices on NPs sorption was also studied. Results showed that attributing to decreased carbonyl functional groups, increased surface area and pore abundance, biochar prepared at 750 ℃ showed drastically higher NPs removal (>99%), while BC-550 and BC-350 showed comparatively lower NPs sorption (<39% and <24%, respectively). Further sorption studies confirmed instantaneous NPs removal with equilibrium attainment within 5 min of interaction and efficient NPs sorption capacity, i.e. 44.9 mg/g for biochar prepared at 750 ℃. Non-linear-kinetic modeling suggested pseudo 1st order removal kinetics while isotherm and thermodynamic modeling confirmed- monolayer instantaneous sorption of NPs sorption. Enhanced electrostatic repulsion resulted in decrease in NPs sorption at alkaline conditions, whereas steric hindrance caused limited removal (<25%) at higher humic acid concentrations.

Biochar for remediation of agrochemicals and synthetic organic dyes from environmental samples: A review

Application of agrochemicals in farming sector to control insects and pests; and use of synthetic organic dyes to color the products are increasing continuously due to the rapid growth of industries. During the application process many industries releases toxic agrochemicals and dyes in to the aquatic environment and on land without the proper treatment. Due to their toxicity the disposal of such chemicals is of utmost importance. Biochar offers the ability to remediate these substances from environmental matrices because of their high sorption ability of pollutants from water and soil. This review highlights 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 kinds of pollutants. Several optimization parameters like temperature, pH, chemical concentration, biochar properties, time, and co-existing ions have been elaborated. Literature survey shows that most of the researches on biochar application have been conducted in the batch mode. Hence there is an urgent need to apply this beneficial technique for the remediation of pollutants at the larger scale in the real water and soil samples. A comprehensive summary on sorption kinetics and adsorption isotherms with 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.

Biochar for simultaneously enhancing the slow-release performance of fertilizers and minimizing the pollution of pesticides

Biochar has been extensively studied as a promising carrier material for fertilizers and an ideal adsorbent for the removal of pesticides. Yet, the application of biochar for simultaneously eliminating the pollution from the agricultural use of fertilizers and pesticides remains unexplored. Herein, we develop P-loaded biochar-based fertilizers (PBC) by the co-pyrolysis of cotton straw and H₃PO₄. The slow-release performance of PBC and their adsorption properties toward pesticides are investigated. The results indicate that the PBC leads to the improvement of adsorption performance, with the maximum adsorption capacities of lambda-cyhalothrin (LAC) for PBC and pristine biochar are 55.90 mg/g and 42.71 mg/g, respectively. Additionally, the adsorption of LAC is beneficial for the improvement of slow-release performance of PBC. The release ratios of P from PBC within 30 days reach 100.0% and 83.5% in water and LAC solution, respectively, demonstrating the existence of synergistic effects between the adsorption of pesticides and the slow release of nutrients. The mechanistic investigation reveals that the pretreatment of H₃PO₄ facilitates to activate more surface functional groups of PBC, contributing greatly to the improved adsorption of LAC. The adsorption of LAC reduces the BET of PBC with pore filling, enabling slower release rate of nutrients from PBC.