Rapid Preparation of Biosorbents with High Ion Exchange Capacity from Rice Straw and Bagasse for Removal of Heavy Metals

This work describes the preparation of the cellulose phosphate with high ion exchange capacity from rice straw and bagasse for removal of heavy metals. In this study, rice straw and bagasse were modified by the reaction with phosphoric acid in the presence of urea. The introduced phosphoric group is an ion exchangeable site for heavy metal ions. The reaction by microwave heating yielded modified rice straw and modified bagasse with greater ion exchange capacities (∼3.62 meq/g) and shorter reaction time (1.5–5.0 min) than the phosphorylation by oil bath heating. Adsorption experiments towards Pb2+, Cd2+, and Cr3+ ions of the modified rice straw and the modified bagasse were performed at room temperature (heavy metal concentration 40 ppm, adsorbent 2.0 g/L). The kinetics of adsorption agreed with the pseudo-second-order model. It was shown that the modified rice straw and the modified bagasse could adsorb heavy metal ions faster than the commercial ion exchange resin (Dowax). As a result of Pb2+ sorption test, the modified rice straw (RH-NaOH 450W) removed Pb2+ much faster in the initial step and reached 92% removal after 20 min, while Dowax (commercial ion exchange resin) took 90 min for the same removal efficiency

Synthesis and Characterization of Nanofiber of Oxidized Cellulose from Nata De Coco

Oxidized cellulose (OC) nanofiber was successfully prepared from the dry sheet of Nata De Coco (DNDC) using the mixture system of HNO3/H3PO4–NaNO2 for the first time. The carboxyl content of the OC was investigated at different conditions (HNO3/H3PO4 ratios, reaction times, and reaction temperatures). The results revealed that the carboxyl content of the OC increased along with the reaction time, which yielded 0.6, 14.8, 17.5, 20.9, 21.0, and 21.0% after 0, 6, 12, 36, and 48 hours, respectively. The reaction yields of the OC ranged between 79% and 85% when using HNO3/H3PO4 ratio of 1 : 3, 1.4% wt of NaNO2 at 30°C at different reaction times. From the structural analysis, the OC products showed a nanofibrous structure with a diameter of about 58.3–65.4 nm. The Fourier transform infrared spectra suggested the formation of carboxyl groups in the OC after oxidation reaction. The crystallinity and crystalline index decreased with an increase of reaction time. The decrease of crystallinity from oxidation process agreed with the decrease of degree of polymerization from the hydrolysis of β-1,4-glycosidic linkages in the cellulose structure. The thermal gravimetric analysis results revealed that the OC products were less thermally stable than the raw material of DNDC. In addition, the OC products showed blood agglutinating property by dropping blood on the sample along with excellent antibacterial activity