Bisphenol A (BPA), catechol, ethinyl estradiol (EE) are some of organic pollutants found in wastewater and aquatic environment. These compounds are sometimes present at trace levels (ng/L), making their analysis difficult. One strategy is the pre-concentration of pollutants in biobased aerogels, post-release in a good solvent and determination by conventional analytical methods. In the present work, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) aerogels were modified by the chemical attachment of β-cyclodextrin (CD) or inclusion of magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) aerogels were modified by inclusion of MNP/charcoal particles. Briefly, hydrogels of HPMC or CMC, and citric acid, as crosslinker, were freeze-dried in order to remove the water, and heated at 165 <sup>o</sup>C for 7 minutes for crosslinking. In the case of HPMC-CD, CD was added in the polymer solution prior to crosslinking. The amount of CD chemically attached to the HPMC chains was determined by phenolphthalein assays and confirmed by DSC. The inclusion of MNP or MNP/charcoal in the HPMC or CMC aerogels was determined by ICP-OES. All aerogels were characterized by FTIR, SEM, TGA and water sorption analyses. The equilibrium constant for the inclusion of bisphenol A (BPA) in the CD was determined by means of H<sup>1</sup>-NMR spectroscopy. The retention capacity of BPA by HPMC-CD aerogels amounted to 90 ± 3 %.HPMC and HPMC-MNP The removal capacity of EE by HPMC was 78 ± 5 %, twice of that presented by HPMC-MNP. CMC-MNP/charcoal removed 70% of catechol from aqueous solution. These findings clearly indicate that cellulose based aerogels are potential adsorbents for pre-concentration of organic pollutants. Experiments to evaluate the selectivity of aerogels for the mixture of BPA, EE and catechol in aqueous media are under progress.

Modified cellulose ethers aerogels for the removal of organic pollutants from wastewater

255th National Meeting (2018)

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