Abstract Background The use of carbonaceous materials for environmental remediation is attractive due to low expense and high sorption capacity. However, their efficiency in contaminant removal is affected by substrate composition and sorption mechanism. Objective This study investigated atrazine sorption and desorption in three carbon-rich substrates. Data were evaluated considering isotherm models and sorbent chemical composition. Methods Sorption was performed by the batch equilibrium method with three substrates obtained from pig slurry composting with different proportions (w/w) of charcoal fines (CF): CF0, CF9 (9% CF), and CF18 (18% CF). The substrates were characterized by elemental analysis, 13C NMR CP/MAS spectroscopy. The Freundlich and Dubinin-Radushkevich (DRK) models better fitted the sorption data (0.96>R2>0.81), followed by Temkin (0.95>R2>0.76). Charcoal addition to composting substrates increased carbon content and the aromaticity in the order CF0<CF9< CF18. However, the sorption affinity decreased in the opposite order as indicated by the Kf values: 675, 335 and 290 L kg-1, respectively. Values of the E parameter (DRK) varied from 8.05 to 8.29 kJ mol-1, suggesting a predominant physical sorption mechanism, whereas the Bt coefficient (Temkin) indicated an endothermic process. Desorption was only observed at higher atrazine concentrations (>10 mg L-1), and the desorption Kf values were greater than the respective sorption values. Conclusions Atrazine sorption in the tested C-rich substrates is not governed by the carbon content or aromaticity. The low sorption reversibility implies a low atrazine mobility from the tested substrates and suggests their potential for herbicide removal in the environment.

In this study, changes on the chemical composition and on the humic acids yield of coal matrices promoted by 25% HNO3 treatment were investigated, by means of elemental, thermogravimetric analyses, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The "run of mine" (ROM) matrix C-MTR (ROM coal) showed the highest C content (41%), highest C/N ratio (76) and lowest ash content (54%) of the studied samples. In contrast, coal tailings presented a higher degree of aromaticity. Treatment with HNO3 solution increased N content, but not that of C. Therefore, the C/N ratio of all samples decreased to values between 11 and 20. The insertion of N occurred in the aromatic structures, while the oxidation occurred in both the aromatic and aliphatic chains. HNO3 treatment increased the humic substances content and the largest increase being observed in the coal tailings (16 to 31% increment in comparison to the untreated sample). The generated humic acids showed in general a chemical composition similar to that of soil humic acids, but a greater aromaticity degree.