review · Heliyon
Biochar application for removing heavy metals from water has gained growing academic attention. A review and bibliometric analysis of literature published between 2010 and 2022 mapped the development of this field across major citation databases. The most extensively investigated pollutants are hexavalent chromium, lead, cadmium, and copper. The primary research themes cluster around adsorption mechanisms, water treatment, adsorption modelling, analytical methods, and hydrothermal carbonisation. Emerging trends highlight biochar modification, reusability, hydrochar production, and the treatment of wastewater and acid mine drainage. In addition, the work examines post-treatment strategies, noting that spent biochar loaded with heavy metals can be repurposed into supercapacitor electrodes or stable catalytic materials. This review outlines ongoing developments and points to critical gaps for future research.
Industrial and municipal activities release hazardous heavy metals into water systems, posing risks to public health and ecosystems. Biochar offers an environmentally sound method for water purification. Summarising global research patterns helps researchers and environmental managers identify effective remediation approaches, address existing knowledge gaps, and find productive secondary uses for metal-loaded waste materials.
Potential applications centre on industrial wastewater treatment and acid mine drainage management, targeting municipal utilities, mining operations, and environmental remediation firms. Secondary commercial opportunities exist in converting metal-loaded spent biochar into supercapacitor electrodes or catalysts. Because the abstract reports on a review and bibliometric study rather than direct product testing, these applications reflect broader research trends rather than immediate near-market deployment.
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Biochar usage for removing heavy metals from aqueous environments has emerged as a promising research area with significant environmental and economic benefits. Using the PICO approach, the research question aimed to explore using biochar to remove heavy metals from aqueous media. We merged the data from Scopus and the Web of Science Core Collection databases to acquire a comprehensive perspective of the subject. The PRISMA guidelines were applied to establish the search parameters, identify the appropriate articles, and collect the bibliographic information from the publications between 2010 and 2022. The bibliometric analysis showed that biochar-based heavy metal remediation is a research field with increasing scholarly attention. The removal of Cr(VI), Pb(II), Cd(II), and Cu(II) was the most studied among the heavy metals. We identified five main clusters centered on adsorption, water treatment, adsorption models, analytical techniques, and hydrothermal carbonization by performing keyword co-occurrence analysis. Trending topics include biochar reusability, modification, acid mine drainage (AMD), wastewater treatment, and hydrochar. The reutilization of heavy metal-loaded spent biochar includes transforming it into electrodes for supercapacitors or stable catalyst materials. This study provides a comprehensive overview of biochar-based heavy metal remediation in aquatic environments and highlights knowledge gaps and future research directions.
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DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e25785
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