Radiation Modification of Some Cellulosic Materials and Their Potential Applications

Abstract

Natural cellulosic materials have been treated with different monomers under the effect of gamma radiation. In this regard, cotton fabrics and Jute fibers were grafted with acrylic acid and acrylonitrile by gamma radiation and the acrylonitrile grafted fibers were amidoximated .The treated cellulosic fibers were characterized by using FTIR, XRD, SEM, TGA and mechanical measurements. The treated cellulosic fibers were then tested for the adsorption selectivity of different metal ions and some dyes. The factors which affect the adsorption process such as pH and time were studied. The results showed high adsorption capacity for different metal ions by treated fibers, where the order of adsorption capacity for ions were as follow: Fe2+ >Pb2+ >Cu2+ >Ni2+. Also, the results showed high adsorption capacity for different dyes, where the basic dye is more adsorbed onto AA-g-fibers while the acid dye is more adsorbed onto amidoximated fibers. Finally, the treated cellulosic fibers were tested for regeneration to cover the economic side by reusing in adsorption/desorption cycles. The results showed that Jute and cotton fibers showed that after three regeneration cycles the adsorption possessed a slight loss in capacity where it reached to 15%, while after the first cycle, the loss never exceeded 5% for both fibers.

Keywords :Wastewater treatment ; Radiation grafting ; Metal ions adsorption ; Dyes adsorption ; Hazardous pollutants ; Cellulosic fibers ; Amidoximated cellulosic fibers ; Jute ; Cotton ; Regeneration