Tetracycline removal from soil by phosphate-modified biochar: Performance and bacterial community evolution

Abstract

Since the remediation performance of soil tetracycline pollution by original biochar is not ideal, many modified methods have been proposed to improve its performance. Considering the cost, complex modification process and environmental friendliness, many modified biochar are difficult to be used in soil environments. In this work, biochar derived from corn stover was modified using phosphate to increase the adsorption ability of soil tetracycline and alleviate the negative effects caused by tetracycline. The results showed that pyrolysis temperatures and anion types of phosphate (PO₄^3-, HPO₄^2-, H₂PO₄^-) played important roles in the performance of modified biochar. Compared with original biochar, phosphate modified biochar not only improved the adsorption capacity, but also changed the adsorption behavior of tetracycline. Via SEM, BET and FTIR techniques, the intrinsic reasons for the increase of adsorption capacity were explained by the change of morphological structures as well as functional groups of the modified biochar. K₃PO₄ and high temperature (800 °C) maximally improved the surface morphology, increased the pore structure, changed the surface functional groups of biochar, and then increased the adsorption capacity of tetracycline (124.51 mg/g). Subsequently, the optimal material (K₃PO₄-800) was selected and applied for tetracycline contaminated soil remediation. Compared to the soil without remediation, K₃PO₄-800 modified biochar effectively reduced the effective concentration of tetracycline in soil, and improved soil K and P nutrition, and reshaped microbial communities. Our study showed that K₃PO₄-800 modified biochar was not only a good tetracycline resistant material, but also a good soil amendment.

Keywords: Adsorption; Microbial community; Modification; Tetracycline.