SYNTHESIS OF CELLULOSE-BASED HYDOGEL FROM SUGARCANE BAGASSE AND ITS APPLICATION IN WATER TREATMENT AND MANAGEMENT

Abstract

Water is a valuable natural resource on the world, but industrial and human activities are polluting it more and more. One of the essential tasks of the twenty-first century is the development of cheap, environmentally acceptable methods to filter the hazardous wastewater with heavy metals and dyes. Adsorption is a somewhat efficient and cost effective approach among these. One such promising adsorbent is hydrogels (HGs), which are macromolecular, three-dimensional crosslinked networks of the hydrophilic group that are capable of both adsorbing these dyes and metal ions from wastewater as well as Having the ability to storing and throwing out a considerable volume of liquids, including water; due to this property, they are also used in sustainable agriculture. A lot of academics have recently become interested in cellulose-based hydrogels (CBHs) because of its high abundance, biodegradability, cost-effectiveness, low toxicity, environment-friendliness, and superior adsorption capability. Agricultural waste is frequently composed of cellulose. Using mechanical, chemical, or a combination of these methods, cellulose can be eliminated to produce superabsorbent hydrogels. In this study, we examine the method of extraction of cellulose from sugarcane bagasse using the alkali-acid pre-treatment method. We also estimated the content of cellulose in treated sugarcane bagasse using a UV-Visible optional density (OD) spectrophotometer and characterize both untreated and treated sugarcane bagasse using Thermogravimetric analysis, ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, and Scanning electron microscopy that helps in effective synthesis of cellulose-based hydrogel and exploring the potential effects of using them in water treatment and management.