Synthesis, Characterization and Application of Cellulose Grafted Acrylamide Polymers

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.