Synthesis and Characterization of Lignin-Derived Porous Materials from Phyllostachys edulis (Bamboo Moso) for the Removal of Aromatic Pollutants

TL;DR

This paper explores using bamboo-derived lignin to create porous materials that efficiently remove aromatic pollutants like dyes.

Contribution

A novel lignin-based porous material is synthesized from bamboo for high-performance adsorption of organic dyes.

Findings

Lignin was successfully extracted from bamboo using hydrothermal methods and polymerized via Friedel-Craft alkylation.

The material showed over 98% adsorption efficiency for Crystal Violet within 4 hours.

Surface functionality and adsorption behavior were confirmed using spectroscopy and physisorption analysis.

Abstract

In recent decades,
pollution from dyes has increasingly
attracted
the attention of researchers. For this reason, the development of
new materials capable of sequestering this type of pollutant has been
extensively studied, especially as research using plant biomass to
produce new materials. Considerable attention has been directed toward
bamboo moso, which has been the focus of extensive studies. The chemical
composition of bamboo culms indicates that cellulose and hemicellulose
comprise 65–70%, whereas lignin accounts for 18–30%.
In this study, lignin has been extracted from bamboo culms using the
hydrothermal methodology under basic conditions. Water-soluble lignin
was dispersed in a porogenic organic solvent and polymerized via the
Friedel-Craft alkylation reaction. 13C CPMAS NMR spectroscopy
was used to study the modification of the water-soluble lignin before
and after polymerization; the peaks related to the linker reaction
were detected and confirmed the successful cross-linking reaction.
The biopolymer-composite was also characterized by FTIR spectroscopy
to explore the surface functionality and its interaction with the
aromatic molecules, using toluene as a model compound. To gain a deeper
understanding of the surface properties, N2 physisorption
analysis was performed at 77 K. To evaluate the material’s
capacity to act as an adsorbent for organic dyes, the adsorption kinetics
of organic pollutants were simulated using Crystal Violet as a model
molecule, tracking the adsorption trends through UV–vis spectroscopy.
In this context, the adsorption capacity of Crystal Violet was determined
to exceed 98% within the initial 4 h period.

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