Chemically modified cellulosic adsorbent for divalent cations removal from aqueous solutions

Conversion of cellulosic wastes to valuable industrial product was achieved by one-step bleaching and grafting methacrylic acid onto cellulosic wastes using sodium chlorite/potassium permanganate redox system. The obtained polymethacrylic acid/cellulose graft copolymer (PMAAC) was used as an adsorbent for different divalent cations. The experimental activities include studying the factors affecting the adsorption process, like adsorption duration, pH of the adsorbate solution, material/liquor ratio, temperature of the adsorption medium and graft yield of the graft copolymer used as an adsorbent. The results obtained indicate that the optimum conditions for metal adsorption were, using PMAAC with graft yield of 100% in an M/L ratio 1:400, at initial pH 7 keeping the temperature constant at 50 °C for 60 minutes. At these optimum conditions, PMAAC could be used to remove divalent cations such as Cu2+, Co2+, and Ni2+ from wastewater with removal efficiency of about 250 mg per one gram PMAAC graft copolymer.