Sludge-derived biochar : a review on the influence of synthesis conditions on environmental risk reduction and removal mechanism of wastewater pollutants

In the context of resource utilization, the applications of waste biomass have attracted increasing attention. Previous studies have shown that forming biochar by heat treatment of sludge could replace the traditional sludge disposal methods, and sludge biochar is proved to be efficient in wastewater treatment. In this work, the pyrolysis, hydrothermal carbonization and microwave pyrolysis methods for preparing sludge biochar were reviewed, and the effects of different modification methods on the performance of sludge biochar in the synthesis process were comprehensively analyzed. This review also summarized the risk control of heavy metal leaching in sludge biochar, increasing the pyrolysis temperature and use of the fractional pyrolysis or co-pyrolysis were usually effectively meathods to reduce the leaching risk of heavy metal in the system, which is crucial for the wide application of sludge biochar in sewage treatment. At the same time, the adsorption mechanism of sludge biochar and the catalytic mechanism as the catalytic material in AOPs reaction, the process of radical and non-radical pathway and the possible impacts in the sludge biochar catalytic process were also analyzed in this paper.