Water is a finite resource of extreme importance to civilization. However, the global increase in human population, agricultural expansion, energy development, over-use, continuous pollution from industries, mining, agriculture, urban and residential activities, water is under extreme stress. Most contaminants enter surface water from storm water runoff, mining, industries and agricultural activities. These can cause water quality reduction and bring adverse effects on aquatic communities. In order to secure clean water, it is therefore necessary to take appropriate measures to eliminate these hazardous chemicals from surface water and ground water.<br/>Flame retardants are chemicals polymerized onto materials for the purpose of inhibiting flames. Organophosphorus compounds are known as flame retardants, and are commonly used as additives in many materials such plasticizers, and fabrics. Improvements in analytical techniques have allowed detection and quantification of such environmental pollutants that have previously not been detected or unknown. As a result, flame retardant chemicals associated with textile industries are now detectable in surface waters and their adverse health effect are under scrutiny.<br/>Tetrakis (hydroxymethyl) phosphonium chloride (THPC) is a water soluble, organophosphorus salt. It has been used by textile industries mainly for cotton and cellulose fabric as a flame retardant and crease-resistant material. Discharge of trace amounts of THPC by a cotton factory in the vicinity of Ogeechee River in Georgia, led to potential environmental hazard as observed in massive fish kill in 2011. THPC and its degraded product formaldehyde are among the list of suspects that may have contributed to the aforementioned environmental pollution. Herein, the research investigates the potential elimination process of THPC from water. For this purpose, biochar will be used which has large adsorption capacity due to its high surface area and porosity and has low production cost. Biochar is defined as the carbon residue obtained from pyrolysis of biomass at low temperature, under low oxygen concentration. In order to assess adsorption capacity of biochar, batch adsorption experiments have been performed and the experimental design has been tuned based on pH, contact time, biochar dose and so on. We hope to advance this study to a larger scale as a sustainable and locally managed water treatment system to eliminate contaminants from various water sources.<br/>

Elimination of a potentially hazardous, flame retardant chemical consisting of an organophosphorus moiety from water using biochar as an adsorbent

255th National Meeting (2018)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.