Application of cellulose of Boehmeria nivea as natural flocculants in direct flocculation

Abstract

The use of cellulose which is a natural polymer as a flocculant has been widely used, however, the extraction of cellulose from plants has not been widely studied, particularly extracted from Boehmeria nivea (ramie). In this research, the stem of ramie came from the waste of textile raw material. The isolation of α-cellulose is done through pre-hydrolysis, delignification, and bleaching processes. In this research, there are 6 types of α-cellulose that are isolated from the stem of ramie, depending on the sodium hydroxide concentration in the delignification process. The isolated α-cellulose is characterized using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and tested its flocculation ability through jar-test apparatus with 5 gr/L kaolin suspension as synthetic water samples and turbidity as the test parameter. The coagulation-flocculation experiments were carried out without the addition of a coagulant, which is called the direct flocculation method. Data analysis was performed by One-Way ANOVA statistical analysis, with Duncan’s multiple range test as the post-hoc analysis. It is concluded that cellulose is a good candidate biomaterial for natural flocculants in removing turbidity and further modification of α-cellulose with cationic grafts will be carried out for the next stage of research.

The synthesis and use of bio-based flocculant from Boehmeria nivea in coagulation-flocculation and direct flocculation of kaolin suspension

“…The peaks at 1600 and 900 cm -1 correspond to the H-O-H stretching vibrations of water absorbed in carbohydrates and the C-H deformation vibrations of cellulose, respectively (Liew et al 2015;Suciyati et al 2021). The absence of a peak intensity at 1500 cm −1 that was associated with C=C stretching vibrations; the peak at 1700 cm −1 represents the ester bond of the carboxylic groups; and 1800-1050 cm -1 spectra related to the functional groups of lipid, protein, and nucleic acid content demonstrates that hemicellulose and lignin are removed during the chemical process, preserving the original molecular structure of cellulose (Liew et al 2015;Agwuncha et al 2021;Suciyati et al 2021;Fauzani et al 2022).…”

“…The presence of this hydroxyl group makes the hydroxylation process unnecessary in the synthesis of bio-based flocculants, so it is expected to minimize the formation of sediment in the deposition process. Bio-based flocculants derived from the cellulose of Boehmeria nivea have been successfully synthesized (Fauzani et al 2021(Fauzani et al , 2022. This work presents the continuation of modifying the cellulose of Boehmeria nivea into cationic cellulose by reaction with 3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl-trimethylammonium chloride (CHPTAC) (Li et al 2015;Zhang et al 2016;Aguado et al 2018).…”

The synthesis and use of α-cellulose and cationic cellulose from Boehmeria nivea as bio-flocculants in flocculation of kaolin suspension

“…The presence of this hydroxyl group makes the hydroxylation process unnecessary in the synthesis of cellulose-based bio occulants, so it is expected to minimize the formation of sediment in the deposition process. Bio occulants derived from the α-cellulose of Boehmeria nivea have been successfully synthesized (Fauzani et al 2021;Fauzani et al 2022). This work presents the continuation of modifying the α-cellulose of Boehmeria nivea into cationic cellulose by reaction with 3-chloro-2hydroxypropyl-trimethylammonium chloride (CHPTAC) (Li et al 2015;Zhang et al 2016;Aguado et al 2018).…”