FURI | Fall 2020

Effect of Iron-Impregnated Biochar on Water Contaminant Adsorption Capabilities

The objective of this project is to analyze biochar’s ability to purify water. It is hypothesized that biochar is effective in removing heavy metal contaminants with the addition of iron or other metal to further enable adsorption. It is also possible that raw biochar, after several iterations, may begin to accumulate iron and act similarly. To test this, two biochar materials were analyzed with X-ray fluorescence to determine their composition. After one was nano-enabled with iron oxide, the three samples were used in a column process filtering tap water. The resulting water samples were analyzed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS).