A Mini-Review of Sludge-Derived Biochar (SDB) for Wastewater Treatment: Recent Advances in 2020–2025

作者：Lia Wang, Lan Liang, Ning Li, Guanyi Chen, Haixiao Guo, Li’an Hou · 发表于：Applied Sciences · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.3390/app15116173 · 被引用次数：15 · 研究领域：Adsorption and biosorption for pollutant removal、Constructed Wetlands for Wastewater Treatment、Membrane Separation Technologies

Sludge-derived biochar (SDB) synthesized by the pyrolysis of sludge is gaining enormous interest as a sustainable solution to wastewater treatment and sludge disposal. Despite the proliferation of general biochar reviews, a focused synthesis on SDB-specific advances, particularly covering the recent surge in multifunctional wastewater treatment applications (2020–2025), receives little emphasis. In particular, a critical analysis of recent trends, application challenges, and future research directions for SDB is still limited. Unlike broader biochar reviews, this mini-review highlights the comparative advantages and limitations of SDB, identifies emerging integration strategies (e.g., bio-electrochemical systems, catalytic membranes), and outlines future research priorities toward enhancing the durability and environmental safety of SDB applications. Specifically, this review summarized the advances from 2020 to 2025, focusing exclusively on functional modifications, and practical applications of SDB across diverse wastewater treatment technologies involved in adsorption, catalytic oxidation, membrane integration, electrochemical processes and bio-treatment systems. Quantitative comparisons of adsorption capacities (e.g., >99% Cd2+ removal, >150 mg/g tetracycline adsorption) and catalytic degradation efficiencies are provided to illustrate recent improvements. The potential of SDB in evaluating traditional and emerging contaminant degradation among the Fenton-like, pers...