Cellulose fiber/nano metal oxide composite: Spectroscopic and modeling analyses

Abstract

Increasing the available water resource is an environmental challenge all over the world especially in the Arabic region. Accordingly the reuse of wastewater is the best solution for increments of water demand. The present paper presents an approach to investigate a novel composite based on cellulose to mediate divalent metals such as Cd. FAAS results indicate that cellulose is used to mediate from 50% to 67% within 8.0 hours. As cellulose is heated with microwave heating (450 W) for 10 min; its ability to remove Cd is increased. A model study indicates that the existence of TiO2 enhances the surface property of cellulose and increases subsequently its ability as a promising tool for treating polluted water. This suggests that cellulose/TiO2 nano composite could mediate Cd completely from polluted water. © 2009, INSInet Publication.