In this work, anaerobic sludge from a wastewater treatment plant was used to prepare a sludge-based biochar/iron oxide (B-FeO_x) adsorbent. The B-FeO_x adsorbent was successfully used to remove metals, including Cr, Cu, Se and Pb from oil sands process water (OSPW) for the first time. Compared with biochar or FeO_x alone, a higher removal efficiency of Cr (80.79%±3.44%), Cu (98.21%±0.25%), Se (88.82%±0.31%) and Pb (90.96%±1.86%) was obtained using the B-FeO_x composite. The high removal efficiency was attributed to the improved specific surface area and pore volume of the B-FeO_x composite, which increased by about 5.9 and 5.7 times, respectively, when compared to biochar. In addition, functional groups in the composite, such as C-O, C=O, O-H, and some iron-bound functional groups, played an important role in the improvement of the removal efficiency of metals. Moreover, the adsorption process was best modelled by the pseudo-second order kinetic model and Langmuir model. Intraparticle diffusion modelling for adsorption of the four metals using B-FeO_x composite resulted in two distinct regions: film and pore diffusion. This study provides the details of a low cost, effective, and environmentally friendly adsorbent for the removal of metals from real OSPW.

在这项工作中，废水处理厂的厌氧污泥用于制备污泥基生物炭/氧化铁（B-FeO _x）吸附剂。B-FeO _x吸附剂首次成功用于从油砂工艺水（OSPW）中去除金属，包括Cr，Cu，Se和Pb。与单独使用生物炭或FeO _x相比，获得了较高的Cr（80.79％±3.44％），Cu（98.21％±0.25％），Se（88.82％±0.31％）和Pb（90.96％±1.86％）去除效率。使用B-FeO _x复合材料。高去除效率归因于B-FeO _x的比表面积和孔体积的改善复合材料，与生物炭相比，分别增加了约5.9和5.7倍。此外，复合材料中的官能团（例如CO，C = O，OH）和一些与铁结合的官能团在提高金属的去除效率方面起着重要作用。此外，吸附过程最好用拟二阶动力学模型和Langmuir模型进行建模。使用B-FeO _x复合材料对四种金属进行吸附的粒子内扩散模型产生了两个不同的区域：膜扩散和孔扩散。这项研究提供了一种低成本，有效且环保的吸附剂的详细信息，该吸附剂可用于从实际OSPW中去除金属。