Oil palm empty fruit bunch-based nanocellulose as a super-adsorbent for water remediation

Athanasia Amanda Septevani; Annisa Rifathin; Ajeng Arum Sari; Yulianti Sampora; Gita Novi Ariani; Sudiyarmanto; Dewi Sondari

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2019.115433

Oil palm empty fruit bunch-based nanocellulose as a super-adsorbent for water remediation

Carbohydr Polym. 2020 Feb 1:229:115433. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2019.115433. Epub 2019 Oct 4.

Authors

Athanasia Amanda Septevani¹, Annisa Rifathin², Ajeng Arum Sari³, Yulianti Sampora³, Gita Novi Ariani³, Sudiyarmanto³, Dewi Sondari⁴

Affiliations

¹ Research Center for Chemistry, Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Kawasan PUSPIPTEK Serpong, Tangerang Selatan 15314, Indonesia. Electronic address: athanasia.amanda.septevani@lipi.go.id.
² Center of Polymer Technology, Agency for The Assessment and Application of Technology, Kawasan PUSPIPTEK Serpong, Tangerang Selatan 15314, Indonesia.
³ Research Center for Chemistry, Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Kawasan PUSPIPTEK Serpong, Tangerang Selatan 15314, Indonesia.
⁴ Research Center for Biomaterials, Indonesian Institute of Sciences, KM 64 Bogor Street, Cibinong, West Java 16911, Indonesia.

PMID: 31826401
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2019.115433

Abstract

Oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB)-based nanocellulose (NC) was successfully produced as a super-adsorbent for water remediation via sulfuric (NCS) and phosphoric (NCP) acid hydrolysis and functionalized with activated carbon (AC). The formation of sulfonic groups on the NCS surface could achieve higher remediation capabilities than that of EFB-NCP. In a very short period, 2 wt.% of the formulated EFB-NCS super-adsorbent showed a selective and remarkable metal adsorption capability to Pb²⁺ at 86% efficiency and 24.94 mg/g adsorption capacity, which were double compared to those of rice-straw NC, and maintained a similar adsorptive capacity after second reusability. Conversely, the insignificant improvement in the adsorption capacity of NCS/AC was attributed to the disturbed surface functionality of micron-size AC. The NCS/AC showed notable organic degradation capability for reducing the chemical oxygen demand (COD) to 93%. All super-adsorbents could maintain the pH, TDS, sulfate and phosphate contents within the government water quality specifications.

Keywords: Adsorbent; Empty fruit bunches; Heavy metal; Nanocellulose; Water remediation.