Preparation of transition metal-modified biochar materials and their effects on the removal of bisphenol A by persulfate activation

Metal-loaded biochar (BC) catalytic systems are widely used for the removal of organic pollutants. However, there is still a lack of relevant research on the impact of different preparation conditions on the performance of synthetic materials. In the present research, CuO and Fe2O3 were loaded on the surface of Ginkgo biloba BC by a hydrothermal method and a chemical co-precipitation method to prepare carbon-based metal catalytic materials. Bisphenol A (BPA) was selected as the target pollutant to study the activation effect of the metal-loaded BC to persulfate (PS). The results showed that the catalytic performance of the CuO/BC materials was better than that of Fe2O3/BC and Fe2O3/CuO/BC. By exploring the influence of the preparation process on the catalytic performance, it can be obtained that the optimal calcination temperature was 350 degrees C and the optimal loading ratio was 2.5:1(w/w) for CuO/BC materials. The CuO/BC prepared under this condition could remove 81.5% of BPA within 60 min. The research results are beneficial to promote the efficient utilization of metal-loaded BC in the field of organic pollutant removal.