Abstract
Excessive phosphate in water bodies causes eutrophication, which can be harmful to human and animal health. This study aimed to fabricate biochar adsorbent based on Mg-Fe modified spent mushroom waste for removing phosphate from aqueous solutions. Various characterization tools such as scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX), Brunauer Emmett Teller (BET), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) were applied to determine the surface structure and properties of biochar from spent mushroom waste (BSMW) and biochar from Mg-Fe modified spent mushroom waste (Mg-Fe@BSMW). The result confirmed that Mg and Fe were successfully embedded into the biochar matrix. Mg-Fe@BSMW showed an excellent adsorption capacity for phosphate (247 mg g(-1)). Kinetic and isotherm analyses revealed that the current study's data fitted well with the pseudo-second-order model and the Langmuir model. A thermodynamic study indicated that phosphate removal was exothermic and spontaneous. Our study indicated that MgFe@BSMW was a potential adsorbent with high efficiency, and excellent reusability for phosphate removal. (c) 2020 Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.