Preparation and properties of pH-responsive reversible-wettability biomass cellulose-based material for controllable oil/water separation

Meixiao Cheng; Hui He; Hongxiang Zhu; Wei Guo; Wenbo Chen; Fei Xue; Shile Zhou; Xingjuan Chen; Shuangfei Wang

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2018.09.051

Preparation and properties of pH-responsive reversible-wettability biomass cellulose-based material for controllable oil/water separation

Carbohydr Polym. 2019 Jan 1:203:246-255. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2018.09.051. Epub 2018 Sep 24.

Authors

Meixiao Cheng¹, Hui He², Hongxiang Zhu³, Wei Guo¹, Wenbo Chen¹, Fei Xue¹, Shile Zhou¹, Xingjuan Chen¹, Shuangfei Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ College of Light Industry and Food Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, PR China; Guangxi Key Laboratory of Clean Pulp & Papermaking and Pollution Control, Nanning 530004, PR China.
² College of Light Industry and Food Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, PR China; Guangxi Key Laboratory of Clean Pulp & Papermaking and Pollution Control, Nanning 530004, PR China. Electronic address: gxuhh@gxu.edu.cn.
³ College of Light Industry and Food Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, PR China; Guangxi Key Laboratory of Clean Pulp & Papermaking and Pollution Control, Nanning 530004, PR China. Electronic address: zhx@gxu.edu.cn.

PMID: 30318210
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2018.09.051

Abstract

Two novel pH-responsive reversible-wettability biomass cellulose-based materials of cellulose-g-PAA and cellulose-g-PAM were conveniently prepared by grafting acrylic acid (AA) and acrylamide (AM), respectively, onto eucalyptus pulp cellulose. The hydrophobic-oleophilic of cellulose-g-PAA and the oleophobic-hydrophilic of cellulose-g-PAM were converted to oleophobic-hydrophilic and hydrophobic-oleophilic, respectively, as the pH converted from 1 to 9. The pH-responsive mechanism of these cellulose-based materials was investigated by ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy analyses. The resulting cellulose-g-PAA and cellulose-g-PAM papers were applied in the switchable separation of oil/water mixtures. Water passed through the cellulose-g-PAA paper at pH = 9 and cellulose-g-PAM paper at pH = 1, while oil was retained. After changing the pH value, oil permeated these papers, but water did not. The papers exhibited excellent regeneration performances; the oil adsorbed on the papers was completely desorbed via pH control.

Keywords: Biomass cellulose; Oil/water separation; Protonation; pH-responsive.