Highly porous carbon from a natural cellulose fiber as high efficiency sorbent for lead in waste water.

The persistence of hollow centre in the carbon obtained from milkweed floss provides exceptional sorption characteristics, not seen in common biomasses or their derivatives. A considerably high sorption of 320mg of lead per gram of milkweed carbon was achieved without any chemical modification to the biomass. In this research, we have carbonized milkweed floss and used the carbon as a sorbent for lead in waste water. A high surface area of 170m2g-1 and pore volume of 1.07cm3g-1 was seen in the carbon. Almost complete removal (>99% efficiency) of lead could be achieved within 5min when the concentration of lead in the solution was 100ppm, close to that prevailing in industrial waste water. SEM images showed that the carbon was hollow and confocal images confirmed that the sorbate could penetrate inside the hollow tube.

Potential applications of cellulose and chitosan nanoparticles/composites in wastewater treatment: A review.

This work concerns the investigation of potential candidature of cellulose and chitosan-based nano-sized materials for heavy metals and dyes removal. Cellulose and chitosan being the first two abundant biopolymers in nature offer wide opportunities to be utilized for high-end applications such as water purification. The nano-sized cellulose and nano-sized chitosan present superior adsorption behavior compared to their micro-sized counterparts. This area of research which explores the possible usage of nano-biopolymers is relatively new. The present review article outlines the development history of research in the field of cellulose and chitosan, various methods employed for the functionalization of the biopolymers, current stage of research, and mechanisms involved in adsorption of heavy metals and dyes using nanocellulose and nanochitosan. The significance of research using nano-biopolymers and future prospects are also identified.