Low Temperature One-Pot Hydrothermal Carbonization of Corn Straw into Hydrochar for Adsorbing Cadmium (II) in Wastewater

Corn straw, a typical agricultural waste, was directly converted into hydrochar with a yield of 77.56% by hydrothermal carbonization at 140–230 °C for 2 h with a solid–liquid ratio of 1:20. The morphology and surface properties were characterized by elemental analysis, specific surface area and pore size analysis and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The results showed that with the increase of hydrothermal reaction temperature, some physical and chemical properties such as the increase of hydrocarbon content, crystallinity, and specific surface area of hydrochar changed significantly. A series of chemical reactions such as dehydration, decarboxylation, and aromatization occurred in the hydrothermal carbonization process so that the prepared hydrochar had rich oxygen-containing functional groups (-HO, C-O-C, C=O) and unique porous structure made the hydrochar prepared at 170 °C had the best removal effect on Cd2+ in solution (5.84 mg/g). These specific conditions could remove Cd2+ and greatly improve the adsorption performance. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Freundlich isotherm model could better describe the adsorption behavior of Cd2+. Therefore, corn straw hydrochar as a potential adsorbent for removing Cd2+ from water.