Removal of copper ions by functionalized biochar based on a multicomponent Ugi reaction

Copper is widely present in the natural environment and inevitably poses a risk to both human health and the natural environment. Biochar is an inexpensive, clean and sustainable sorbent material that can be used as a resource for copper removal, and there is interest in new ways to chemically treat biochar to tune its unique properties and modify its atomic structure. In this study, biochar was oxidized, and then polyethyleneimine (PEI) modified chitosan and carboxylated biochar were economically compounded through a multicomponent Ugi reaction to effectively remove Cu(II). PEI enhances the adsorption of Cu(II) within an optimum solution pH range of 3.5–5.5. The adsorption process follows a pseudo-second-order kinetic model. When the dosage of BC-NH2 was 4 g L−1 and the temperature was 303 K, the maximum adsorption capacity calculated by the Langmuir model was 26.67 mg g−1. The adsorption process of Cu(II) on BC-NH2 was heat-trapping and spontaneous. BC-NH2 showed good selectivity for K+ and Mg2+, and BC-NH2 desorbed by NaOH showed better adsorption performance than H2SO4 in the adsorption–desorption cycle. Characterization by SEM, EDS, BET, FTIR, TGA and XPS showed successful coupling and that the amide group of BC-NH2 had chelated with Cu(II). This atomically economical multicomponent Ugi reaction provides a new option for preparing composite materials that effectively remove heavy metals.