Sustainable Biopolymers for Water and Wastewater Treatment

Authors

Presenter(s)

Moses Ayitey-Adjin

Comments

3:00-4:15, Kennedy Union Ballroom

Files

Description

With the increasing number of contaminants found in wastewater, there has been a need to develop sustainable materials that will help address this issue. This work investigates the use of eco-friendly materials such as lignin, chitosan and vanillin in the formation of a hydrogel composite to help remove these pollutants from wastewater. Lignin a byproduct of the paper industry serves as an abundant and a source of a sustainable polymer, chitosan a biopolymer found in the exoskeleton of crustaceans is noted for its adsorption capacity. Vanillin, a natural crosslinker was also incorporated in the hydrogel matrix to improve the gel’s mechanical strength. Different hydrogel composites were synthesized in this work using lignin, chitosan and by varying the weight percent of the crosslinker vanillin. The various hydrogel composites were characterized using SEM, FTIR and a rheometer. The adsorption capacity of the hydrogels was also evaluated against water contaminants such as methylene blue. Preliminary results revealed that these hydrogel composite had high adsorption capacity and are able to remove contaminants such as methylene blue from wastewater hence a potential adsorbent for waste water treatment.

Publication Date

4-23-2025

Project Designation

Graduate Research

Primary Advisor

Erick Vasquez

Primary Advisor's Department

Chemical and Materials Engineering

Keywords

Stander Symposium, School of Engineering

Institutional Learning Goals

Community

Recommended Citation

"Sustainable Biopolymers for Water and Wastewater Treatment" (2025). Stander Symposium Projects. 3854.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/stander_posters/3854