Grafting of Dissolved Pulp from Date Palm Byproducts for Use in Industrial Water Purification

Abstract

Date palm ( Phoenix dactylifera L.) is considered as important crop in the Arabian Gulf. Lot of date palm leaves and rachis were collected annually and considers as wastes. In this work cellulose was isolated from two by-product of date palm tree, rachis and leaflet by alkali and bleaching treatments. The isolated cellulose was modified by grafting with acrylamide. The chemical composition of all samples was determined at different stages of treatment. All samples were characterizing by Fourier transform infrared, X-ray diffraction, the energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and Scanning electron microscopy. Grafted samples copolymer was used in removal of methyl orange from aqueous solution. The maximum adsorption occurs at pH 3.0. The results of equilibrium denote the good fit of the adsorption data by freundlich isotherm model, maximum adsorption capacity calculated from Langmuir is 48.12 mg/g, and the adsorption obey pseudo-second order kinetic model. Date palm fibers considering as a promising alternative substitute to synthetic fibers in polymer composite industry.