Lignocellulose hydrogel warms to removing pollutants

This is the claim of researchers from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, in collaboration with Politecnico di Torino, Italy, who said they have engineered a more sustainable technique for producing hydrogel composites for wastewater decontamination. The team’s results are published in Sustainable Materials and Technologies.

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“The total amount of water on Earth doesn’t change with time, but demand does,” said Minna Hakkarainen, who leads the Division of Polymer Technology at KTH. “These all-lignocellulose hydrogels offer a promising, sustainable solution to help ensure access to clean water.”

The hydrogel composites can be made from 100 per cent lignocellulose, or plant matter – the most abundant bioresource on Earth, she said in a statement. One ingredient is cellulose gum (carboxymethyl cellulose, or CMC), a thickener and emulsion commonly derived from wood pulp or cotton processing by-products and used in various food products. Added to the hydrogel are graphene oxide-like carbon dots synthesised from biomass with microwave heat. The hydrogel composites are then photocured with UV light in water at room temperature.