A self-supported sodium alginate composite hydrogel membrane and its performance in filtering heavy metal ions

Rong Cai; Ying Chen; Jiawei Hu; Jinli Xiong; Jiawei Lu; Jiating Liu; Xiaobo Tan; Wenyong Liu; Yueyun Zhou; Yi Chen

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2022.120278

A self-supported sodium alginate composite hydrogel membrane and its performance in filtering heavy metal ions

Carbohydr Polym. 2023 Jan 15:300:120278. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2022.120278. Epub 2022 Nov 2.

Authors

Rong Cai¹, Ying Chen², Jiawei Hu¹, Jinli Xiong³, Jiawei Lu¹, Jiating Liu¹, Xiaobo Tan¹, Wenyong Liu², Yueyun Zhou⁴, Yi Chen⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Packaging Materials and Engineering, Hunan University of Technology, Zhuzhou 412007, China; Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Comprehensive Utilization of Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Waste Resources, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Hunan University of Technology, Zhuzhou 412007, China.
² School of Packaging Materials and Engineering, Hunan University of Technology, Zhuzhou 412007, China; National & Local Joint Engineering Research Center for Advanced Packaging Material and Technology, Hunan University of Technology, Zhuzhou 412007, China.
³ School of Packaging Materials and Engineering, Hunan University of Technology, Zhuzhou 412007, China.
⁴ School of Packaging Materials and Engineering, Hunan University of Technology, Zhuzhou 412007, China; Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Comprehensive Utilization of Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Waste Resources, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Hunan University of Technology, Zhuzhou 412007, China; National & Local Joint Engineering Research Center for Advanced Packaging Material and Technology, Hunan University of Technology, Zhuzhou 412007, China.
⁵ School of Packaging Materials and Engineering, Hunan University of Technology, Zhuzhou 412007, China; Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Comprehensive Utilization of Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Waste Resources, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Hunan University of Technology, Zhuzhou 412007, China; National & Local Joint Engineering Research Center for Advanced Packaging Material and Technology, Hunan University of Technology, Zhuzhou 412007, China. Electronic address: yiyue514@aliyun.com.

PMID: 36372500
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2022.120278

Abstract

A novel self-supported polysaccharide based hydrogel membrane was prepared by adding cellulose nanofiber (CNF) and micron-sized biochar (BC) into sodium alginate (SA) hydrogel with in-situ free water evaporation ("cooking") process and ionic crosslinking, in which the polyethylene glycol (PEG) was used as a pore-forming agent. Herein, CNF can not only enhance the mechanical property of the matrix, but also assist the homogeneous dispersion of BC. As a result, the prepared membrane had a maximum tensile strength of up to 5.69 MPa, which was more than 2-3 times higher than the previously reported self-supported hydrogel membranes. The flux reached 61.5 Lm^-2 h^-1 under 0.35 MPa pressure, and the anti-fouling property was also excellent due to its hydrophilicity. In filtration tests, the rejection of Cr (III) and Cr (VI) of 50 mg/l could reach 96.8 % and 91.4 %, respectively. Moreover, the mechanism behind the exceptional high rejection for both cationic and anionic heavy metal was delineated.

Keywords: Heavy metal ion filtration; Mechanical enhancement; Self-supported hydrogel membrane; Sodium alginate.

MeSH terms

Alginates*
Cellulose
Filtration
Hydrogels
Ions
Metals, Heavy*

Substances

Alginates
Hydrogels
Metals, Heavy
Ions
Cellulose