Our group is investigating an ionic liquid based process for extracting and purifying chitin from biomass for use as a renewable and biodegradable sorbent backbone from the extraction of uranium from seawater. One advantage of this approach is that ionic liquids such as 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate can extract biopolymers from other biomass sources as well, such as cellulose and lignin from wood pulp. This can allow us to prepare novel, entirely biorenewable composites directly from biomass by homogeneously combining biopolymer solutions and spinning from the resulting blend. We have selected cellulose and lignin as additives to improve the physicochemical properties of chitin sorbents due to their extreme abundance as renewable resources and advantageous properties. Cellulose chitin blends exhibit improved strength relative to the individual materials, and lignin is a cross-linking agent with anti-microbial properties which may help to control the rate of biodegradation. Here we present the preparation of composite materials from these three biopolymers and examine the effects of cellulose and lignin on sorbent strength, uranium uptake capacity, and biodegradation as a function of composition.<br/>

Homogeneous blending of chitin with biopolymers for advanced biodegradable sorbents for uranium extraction from seawater

249th National Meeting (2015)

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