Thallium contamination in agricultural soils and associated potential remediation via biochar utilization

Thallium (Tl) is an extremely harmful metal that is substantially distributed in the environment. It can threaten human health via consumption of food potentially derived from Tl-contaminated agricultural production. Little information is available on how to utilize biochar to remediate Tl contamination in agricultural soils. More efforts are urgently needed to be devoted to developing effective techniques to empower biochar with high selectivity of Tl in agricultural soils. In this review, we provided comprehensive information on Tl contamination in agricultural soils. We also discussed recent developments and assessed the current status of biochar applications. We briefly reviewed the bridge between biochar preparation technology and utilization wherein further developments can exhibit potential in terms of Tl remediation. Hence, biochar is expected to exhibit excellent Tl remediation performance in contaminated agricultural soils with promising application prospects. The obtained knowledge provides further insights into the remediation of Tl contamination in agricultural soils.