Cation modification of montmorillonite regulates the retention of biomass-derived artificial humic substances
- 1Department of Colloid Chemistry, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces Am Mühlenberg 1 14476 Potsdam Germany
- 2Functional Materials and xDevices, Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research Potsdam (IAP) 14476 Potsdam Germany
- 3Department of Environmental Technology, Chair of Circular Economy and Recycling Technology, Technische Universität Berlin 10623 Berlin Germany
Abstract
Interactions between biomass-derived organic matter and clay minerals are important for understanding organo-mineral associations and evaluating strategies for organic carbon retention. In this work, artificial humic substances (AHS) were prepared from pear pomace and pine bark as biowastes through hydrothermal humification. The resulting AHS were then contacted with pristine and cation-modified montmorillonite (MON) to investigate the effect of Na+, Ca2+, and Fe3+ modification on AHS adsorption. AHS adsorption behavior was evaluated over a concentration range of 0.5–25 g L−1, and the resulting materials were characterized using complementary structural, textural, and surface-sensitive techniques. Carbon retention increased in the order Na-MON < Ca-MON < Fe-MON, with values of 316, 413, and 546 mg C per g clay for Na-MON, Ca-MON, and Fe-MON, respectively. Among the models evaluated, the Sips model exhibited the best agreement with the experimental adsorption isotherm data, suggesting heterogeneous adsorption behavior and a finite retention capacity within the investigated concentration range. The pseudo-second-order model better described adsorption kinetics than the pseudo-first-order model. Across four adsorption–desorption cycles, Fe-MON exhibited the lowest desorption capacity, decreasing from 58.37 mg C g−1 in the first cycle to 12.83 mg C g−1 in the fourth, while Na-MON showed the highest relative desorption, decreasing from 143.15 to 40.17 mg C g−1. These findings demonstrate that cation modification influenced both AHS retention and the interfacial properties of MON, highlighting the potential of biomass-derived AHS-mineral composites for further investigation in carbon management and circular bioeconomy applications.
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BibTeX
@article{pakzad2026cation,
title = {{Cation modification of montmorillonite regulates the retention of biomass-derived artificial humic substances}},
author = {Khatereh Pakzad and Giulia Ischia and Markus Antonietti and Jiyong Kim and Vera Susanne Rotter and Alexander Volikov},
journal = {RSC Advances},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.1039/d6ra09407d},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1039/d6ra09407d},
note = {CC BY 3.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Cation modification of montmorillonite regulates the retention of biomass-derived artificial humic substances
AU - Khatereh Pakzad
AU - Giulia Ischia
AU - Markus Antonietti
AU - Jiyong Kim
AU - Vera Susanne Rotter
AU - Alexander Volikov
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/04
JO - RSC Advances
DO - 10.1039/d6ra09407d
UR - https://doi.org/10.1039/d6ra09407d
AB - Interactions between biomass-derived organic matter and clay minerals are important for understanding organo-mineral associations and evaluating strategies for organic carbon retention. In this work, artificial humic substances (AHS) were prepared from pear pomace and pine bark as biowastes through hydrothermal humification. The resulting AHS were then contacted with pristine and cation-modified montmorillonite (MON) to investigate the effect of Na+, Ca2+, and Fe3+ modification on AHS adsorption. AHS adsorption behavior was evaluated over a concentration range of 0.5–25 g L−1, and the resulting materials were characterized using complementary structural, textural, and surface-sensitive techniques. Carbon retention increased in the order Na-MON < Ca-MON < Fe-MON, with values of 316, 413, and 546 mg C per g clay for Na-MON, Ca-MON, and Fe-MON, respectively. Among the models evaluated, the Sips model exhibited the best agreement with the experimental adsorption isotherm data, suggesting heterogeneous adsorption behavior and a finite retention capacity within the investigated concentration range. The pseudo-second-order model better described adsorption kinetics than the pseudo-first-order model. Across four adsorption–desorption cycles, Fe-MON exhibited the lowest desorption capacity, decreasing from 58.37 mg C g−1 in the first cycle to 12.83 mg C g−1 in the fourth, while Na-MON showed the highest relative desorption, decreasing from 143.15 to 40.17 mg C g−1. These findings demonstrate that cation modification influenced both AHS retention and the interfacial properties of MON, highlighting the potential of biomass-derived AHS-mineral composites for further investigation in carbon management and circular bioeconomy applications.
SN - 2046-2069
ER -