Adsorption of Ammonium by Graphene Oxide-Based Composites Prepared by UV Irradiation and Using as Slow-Release Fertilizer

A novel sodium alginate-grafted poly(acrylic acid)/graphene oxide (NaAlg-g-PAA/GO) composite hydrogel was prepared via ultraviolet irradiation, and characterized by infrared spectroscopy spectrometer. X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. It was employed to adsorb NH₄⁺ from aqueous solution and used as slow-release nitrogen fertilizers (SNFs). Result indicated that the adsorption process for NH₄⁺ reached equilibrium within 50 min, with the adsorption capacity of 6.6 mmol g^?1 even if 30 wt% GO was incorporated. The results of adsorption kinetic and isotherm were well described by the pseudo-second-order and Freundlich model. The thermodynamics analysis showed the adsorption process was spontaneous. The study indicated excellent water-holding ratio of soil with 2 wt% SNFs was 81.2%, and nitrogen release was up to 55.1% within 40 days in soil. Overall, NaAlg-g-PAA/GO could be considered as an efficient adsorbent for the recovery of nitrogen with the agronomic reuse as a fertilizer.     

Distillers’ grains anaerobic digestion residue biochar used for ammonium sorption and its effect on ammonium leaching from an Ultisol

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The aim of this work was to explore the potential application of biochar from distillers’ grains anaerobic digestion residue pyrolyzed at...     

The impact of economic complexity on energy demand in OECD countries

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This paper investigates the role of economic complexity on energy demand using the panel dataset of 25 Organization for Economic Co-operation and...     

Personal exposure to PM2.5-bound heavy metals associated with cardiopulmonary function in general population

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - To better understand the cardiopulmonary alterations associated with personal exposed PM2.5-bound heavy meals, we conducted a cross-sectional study in...     

The toxicity of cadmium ion (Cd2+) to phycocyanin: an in vitro spectroscopic study

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The pollution of heavy metals is a severer problem for the ecosystems in waters. The toxicity of Cd2+ on phycocyanin (PC) is studied in molecular...     

Estimating total species using a weighted combination of expected mixture distribution component counts

Environmental and Ecological Statistics - In this paper we present a weighted mixture distribution component counts (MDCC) approach for estimating total number of species. The proposed method...