Modified biochars and the applications in water and wastewater treatment

Water contamination poses significant challenges for humans, primarily due to the inaccessibility of advanced water treatment techniques for low-income communities. Wastewater should be treated before it is released into the environment or reused, otherwise it will pose a threat for the existence of life on earth. Wastewater treatment is a mandatory requirement in most countries. There are several wastewater treatment technologies; however, eco-friendly, cost effective, and simple operative treatment systems are lacking. Biochar is a solid pyrolytic residue of biowaste found to have several benefits, among those are that it can also give a solution to the drinking water contamination and the wastewater problem. Biochar alone is not effective for the removal of mixture of contaminants. Hence, modification of biochar or combination with the existing technologies could be a better approach. In this chapter, the role of modified biochars in water and wastewater treatment is discussed, and the possible real scale implementations are highlighted. The limitations and the future perspectives are also discussed.