Efficient remediation of antibiotic pollutants from the environment by innovative biochar: current updates and prospects

ABSTRACT

The increased antibiotic consumption and their improper management led to serious antibiotic pollution and its exposure to the environment develops multidrug resistance in microbes against antibiotics. The entry rate of antibiotics to the environment is much higher than its exclusion; therefore, efficient removal is a high priority to reduce the harmful impact of antibiotics on human health and the environment. Recent developments in cost-effective and efficient biochar preparation are noticeable for their effective removal. Moreover, biochar engineering advancements enhanced biochar remediation performance several folds more than in its pristine forms. Biochar engineering provides several new interactions and bonding abilities with antibiotic pollutants to increase remediation efficiency. Especially heteroatoms-doping significantly increased catalysis of biochar. The main focus of this review is to underline the crucial role of biochar in the abatement of emerging antibiotic pollutants. A detailed analysis of both native and engineered biochar is provided in this article for antibiotic remediation. There has also been discussion of how biochar properties relate to feedstock, production conditions and manufacturing technologies, and engineering techniques. It is possible to produce biochar with different surface functionalities by varying the feedstock or by modifying the pristine biochar with different chemicals and preparing composites. Subsequently, the interaction of biochar with antibiotic pollutants was compared and reviewed. Depending on the surface functionalities of biochar, they offer different types of interactions e.g., π-π stacking, electrostatic, and H-bonding to adsorb on the biochar surface. This review demonstrates how biochar and related composites have optimized for maximum removal performance by regulating key parameters. Furthermore, future research directions and opportunities for biochar research are discussed.

Graphical abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Biochar
• antibiotics
• adsorption
• biodegradation
• bioremediation

List of Abbreviations

Table

CRediT Authorship Contribution Statement

Ravi Katiyar: Writing - original draft, literature review; Anil Kumar Patel: Supervision, Writing – review and editing.; Reeta Rani Singhania: Supervision, Writing – review, and editing.; Mei-Ling Tsai: Literature review, draft preparation; Ganesh D. Saratale: Literature review, draft preparation; Chiu-Wen Chen: Supervision, Writing – review and editing.; Cheng-Di Dong: Supervision, Writing – review and editing.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the Institute of Maritime Science and Technology, and Department of Marine Environmental Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung City 81157, Taiwan for providing space for current research.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by funding from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan under Grant Ref. number 109-2222-E-992-002.