Facile synthesis of ball milled lanthanum oxide doped peanut shell biochar-diatomite composite and its promising removal of various organic pollutants

• La 2 O 3 -biochar-diatomite was fabricated via ball-milling/buried-carbon pyrolysis. • BPB-25DT showed promising organic removal (NOR: 57, LEV: 33, MB: 73 mg g −1 ). • BPB-25DT removed nearly 2.3 (NOR), 1.5 (LEV), and 3.2 (MB) times that of blank. • After 3 regenerations, BPB-25DT still maintained above 80 % for removing organics. Hazard issues of natural environment become increasingly critical as global economy and industry was sustainably developing, especially for pollution of organic antibiotic and dye pollutants. Here, La 2 O 3 -biochar-diatomite composite sorbent was successfully fabricated by ball milling technique combined with buried carbon pyrolysis approach, without use of any toxic chemicals. Their enhanced pore volume (0.192 cm 3 g −1 ), rich oxygen containing groups (Si-O-H and Si-O-Si), and modified porous microstructure both contributed to the removal of organic pollutants such as norfloxacin (56.6 mg g −1 ) and levofloxacin (32.9 mg g −1 ) antibiotics or cationic methylene blue (73.3 mg g −1 ), achieved by BPB-25DT sorbent which was nearly 2.3, 1.5, and 3.2 times that of the blank, respectively. Modeling results indicated that these organic pollutants adsorbed onto BPB-25DT sorbent was probably conducted following multiple mechanisms predominantly controlled by chemisorption processes. After three regenerations, BPB-25DT sorbent still maintained a qualified ability (above 80 %) for removing organics, thus indicating its promising stability and good reusability. Those results illustrated the advantages and potentials of ball milled lanthanum oxide doped peanut shell biochar-diatomite composite sorbent applied for water treatment.