Unlocking the potential of Chinese herbal medicine residue-derived biochar as an efficient adsorbent for high-performance tetracycline removal

This study employed hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) in conjunction with ZnCl2 activation and pyrolysis to produce biochar from one traditional Chinese medicine astragali radix (AR) residue. The resultant biochar was evaluated as a sustainable adsorbent for tetracycline (TC) elimination from water. The adsorption performance of TC on two micropore-rich AR biochars, AR@ZnCl2 (1370 m2 g−1) and HAR@ZnCl2 (1896 m2 g−1), was comprehensively evaluated using adsorption isotherms, kinetics, and thermodynamics. By virtue of pore diffusion, π-π interaction, electrostatic attraction, and hydrogen bonding, the prepared AR biochar showed exceptional adsorption properties for TC. Notably, the maximum adsorption capacity (930.3 mg g−1) of TC on HAR@ZnCl2 can be achieved when the adsorbent dosage is 0.5 g L−1 and C0 is 500 mg L−1 at 323 K. The TC adsorption on HAR@ZnCl2 took place spontaneously. Furthermore, the impact of competitive ions behavior is insignificant when coexisting ion concentrations fall within the 10–100 mg L−1 range. Additionally, the produced biochar illustrated good economic benefits, with a payback of 701 $ t−1. More importantly, even after ten cycles, HAR@ZnCl2 still presented great TC removal efficiency (above 77%), suggesting a good application prosperity. In summary, the effectiveness and sustainability of AR (a Chinese medicine residue) biochar, a biowaste-derived product, were demonstrated in its ability to remove antibiotics from water, showing great potential in wastewater treatment application.