Biochar admixture cement mortar fines for adsorptive removal of heavy metals in single and multimetal solution: Insights into the sorption mechanisms and environmental significance.

The combined action of biochar and C-S-H (calcium-silicate-hydrate) in the cement mortars as adsorbents was explored for treating heavy metals from water. The biochar admixture cement mortars were ground to fines for use as adsorbents with the rationale that combined action of Ca, Si, Al etc. based industrial waste with conventional adsorbent biochar could enhance the removal efficiency of contaminants and therefore the overarching aim was to study the removal capacity for three selected heavy metals (Pb Cu and Zn) commonly found in the aqueous waste stream.