Abstract:
The aim of this study is to synthesize, characterize and utilize cellulose grafted
acrylamide copolymers. Cellulose was prepared from corn cob husk fibers by
treatments with sodium hydroxide, followed by bleaching with sodium
hypochlorite. Copolymerization was performed using a free radical generation
method using acrylamide as a monomer and ammonium persulphate as
initiator at 90◦C and 6hour reaction time. The highest percentage of grafting
was 28% under the following reaction conditions: 0.66g of acrylamide and
1.4g of ammonium persulphate and 0.5g of cellulose.
Grafted cellulose was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared
spectroscopy (FTIR). Grafted cellulose have displayed the presence of a new
characteristic peak of –CONH2 group at 2357 cm-1.
Grafted cellulose was applied to remove ferric ions from aqueous solution
under different pH, contact time and initial concentrations. The highest
removal efficiency was found to be 94% at pH3 and 30 minutes of stirring at
room temperature.
