Next Article in Journal
Performance and Mechanism of a Novel Composite Ecological Ditch System for Nitrogen and Phosphorus Interception in Agricultural Drainage
Previous Article in Journal
Machine Learning Models for Mapping Groundwater Pollution Risk: Advancing Water Security and Sustainable Development Goals in Georgia, USA
 
 
Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
Journals
Water
Volume 17
Issue 6
10.3390/w17060881
water-logo
Submit to this Journal Review for this Journal Propose a Special Issue
► Article Menu

Article Menu

share Share announcement Help format_quote Cite question_answer Discuss in SciProfiles
first_page
settings
Order Article Reprints
Font Type:
Arial Georgia Verdana
Font Size:
Aa Aa Aa
Line Spacing:
Column Width:
Background:
Article

Ball-Milled Spent Coffee Ground Biochar Effectively Removes Caffeine from Water

by
Yicheng Yang
1,
Yongshan Wan
2,*,
Jianjun Chen
3,
Hao Chen
4,
Yuncong Li
5,
Rafael Muñoz-Carpena
1,
Yulin Zheng
1,
Jinsheng Huang
1,
Yue Zhang
1 and
Bin Gao
6
1
Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
2
US EPA Center for Environmental Measurement and Modeling, Gulf Breeze, FL 32561, USA
3
Mid-Florida Research & Education Center, University of Florida, Apopka, FL 32703, USA
4
Department of Agriculture, Landscape, and Environment, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA
5
Department of Soil and Water Sciences, Tropical Research and Education Center, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Homestead, FL 33031, USA
6
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Water 2025, 17(6), 881; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17060881
Submission received: 7 February 2025 / Revised: 8 March 2025 / Accepted: 17 March 2025 / Published: 19 March 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Micropollutants: Challenges and Solutions in Detection and Treatment)
Browse Figures
Versions Notes

Abstract

Caffeine in aquatic ecosystems is an emerging contaminant causing significant environmental concern. In this work, spent coffee ground (SCG) was pyrolyzed at 300, 450, and 600 °C to produce pristine SCG biochars (CG), which were then ball-milled to produce ball-milled SCG biochars (BMCG). A batch experiment with ball-milled and pristine biochars showed that ball-milled biochars pyrolyzed at 450 °C and 600 °C had the highest capacities to adsorb caffeine. Subsequently, ball-milled CG450 (BMCG450) was selected for further analysis. The results showed that ball milling dramatically augmented the specific surface area and oxygen-containing functional groups of the biochar. The Langmuir maximum caffeine adsorption capacity was 82.65 mg/g. Both solution pH and ionic strength affected caffeine removal by BMCG450. As pH increased, increased electrostatic repulsion limited caffeine adsorption onto the biochar. However, an increase in ion strength slightly enhanced caffeine adsorption because of the electrostatic screening effect of cations. The ball-milled SCG biochar also showed high adsorption efficiency in a completely mixed flow reactor under continuous flow conditions. Our study indicates that ball-milled SCG biochar at 450 °C can serve as a viable sorbent for the removal of caffeine from water.
Keywords: ball milling; biochar; adsorption; spent coffee ground; caffeine; completely mixed flow reactor ball milling; biochar; adsorption; spent coffee ground; caffeine; completely mixed flow reactor

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Yang, Y.; Wan, Y.; Chen, J.; Chen, H.; Li, Y.; Muñoz-Carpena, R.; Zheng, Y.; Huang, J.; Zhang, Y.; Gao, B. Ball-Milled Spent Coffee Ground Biochar Effectively Removes Caffeine from Water. Water 2025, 17, 881. https://doi.org/10.3390/w17060881

AMA Style

Yang Y, Wan Y, Chen J, Chen H, Li Y, Muñoz-Carpena R, Zheng Y, Huang J, Zhang Y, Gao B. Ball-Milled Spent Coffee Ground Biochar Effectively Removes Caffeine from Water. Water. 2025; 17(6):881. https://doi.org/10.3390/w17060881

Chicago/Turabian Style

Yang, Yicheng, Yongshan Wan, Jianjun Chen, Hao Chen, Yuncong Li, Rafael Muñoz-Carpena, Yulin Zheng, Jinsheng Huang, Yue Zhang, and Bin Gao. 2025. "Ball-Milled Spent Coffee Ground Biochar Effectively Removes Caffeine from Water" Water 17, no. 6: 881. https://doi.org/10.3390/w17060881

APA Style

Yang, Y., Wan, Y., Chen, J., Chen, H., Li, Y., Muñoz-Carpena, R., Zheng, Y., Huang, J., Zhang, Y., & Gao, B. (2025). Ball-Milled Spent Coffee Ground Biochar Effectively Removes Caffeine from Water. Water, 17(6), 881. https://doi.org/10.3390/w17060881

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Metrics

Back to TopTop