The research of new materials and methods for water treatment is necessary. Two sets of materials were prepared. The one set is composed from CuO/ZnO oxides with variable content of CuO and the second set consists of its biochar impregnated counterparts. The structure and phase composition was determined using X-ray diffraction method and morphology of the materials was studied using scanning electron microscopy. The photodegradation activity and adsorption properties were tested on model pollutant - Methylene blue (MB) dye solution. The experimental kinetic of the data was analyzed using pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order kinetic models and the equilibrium data was evaluated using Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin-Radushkievic models. It was found that optimal material for photodegradation of MB is 1% CuO/ZnO oxide and for the adsorption of MB is the best material raw corn cob bi...

The utilization of unconventional agricultural wastes to obtain new porous carbonaceous materials, at mild pyrolysis temperatures and without complex procedures, for either water treatment and energy storage applications is important from the economic and environmental perspective. In this study, biochars and hydrochars were prepared from banana rachis, cocoa pod husks, and rice husks at 600 °C-2 h, under nitrogen flux. The prepared materials were characterized to better understand how their morphological, textural, physical-chemical and/or structural properties correlate with their methylene blue (MB) adsorption capacities. The material with the best properties (mainly SBET > 800 m2/g) and MB adsorption capacity was a novel biochar prepared from banana rachis (BW-BC). This novel material was selected for additional kinetics and equilibrium adsorption tests for lead (Pb) along with i...