The study deals with the use of nanosized cellulose in the form of suspensions or nanocomposite membranes for water purification. The nanocrystals and nanofibers from wood resources were effectively used as functional entities to selectively adsorb and remove contaminants like dyes, arsenic and heavy metal ions from industrial water sources. The adsorption of contaminants on the nanosurface can be owing to various mechanisms as i) hydrogen boding ii) electrostatic interactions, iii) chelation etc. The study has shown that the adsorption efficiency is strongly dependent on the functional groups on the surface, surface charge density and zeta potential of the nanoparticles. Cellulose nanocrystals with sulphate functional groups on the surface was found to be highly selective towards positively charged pollutants in real water systems. Furthermore, specific functionalization of nanoparticle resulted in improved adsorption and specific selectivity with contaminants. Fully biobased membranes with good dispersion of nanocellulose in the matrix phase were prepared and the processing methods were found to impact the functionality, mechanical properties as well as water flux through the membranes (see Figure 1). The results indicate that nanocellulose can act as next generation of functional materials, where the surface characteristics of the nanoentities can be tailored for cleaning water.Figure 1. a) WDX mapping showing the adsorption of metal ions on nanocellulose surface b) nanostructured morphology of the prepared biobased membranes c) effect of membrane treatment on water contaminated with dyesAcknowledgements: Financial support under EU FP7 project, NanoSelect ( grant no.280519) is acknowledged.

Nanocellulose as functional material for water cleaning

247th National Meeting (2014)

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