Study on Adsorption of Methyl Orange by Nanocellulose

Abstract

In the context of economic growth, water pollution has become a serious concern, highlighting the urgent need to development of efficient and cost-effective adsorbents is imminent. This study investigates how to utilize low-cost preparation of pulp nanofibres. Adsorption process is a commonly used technique in wastewater treatment. Nanocellulose has many advantages and in this experiment, nanofibres were successfully prepared by acidification and used a range of techniques to characterize the synthesized material including scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and transmission electron microscopy. In addition, the adsorption properties of nanocellulose on methyl orange were examined. The effect of concentration in the range of 0.2–1.0 mol L^–1 was negligible.T he maximum adsorption capacity reaching 730 mg g^–1. The experiments showed that the pH value had a significant effect on the adsorption process, and the best adsorption efficiency was achieved at pH 3.The adsorption process was found to follow the Langmuir isotherm and the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. In conclusion, nanocellulose can be obtained from low-cost waste paper pulp and represents an effective treatment agent for dyeing wastewater.