A cost-effective anionic flocculant prepared by grafting carboxymethyl cellulose and lignosulfonate with acrylamide

How to efficiently utilize most abundant biomass of cellulose, lignin and their derivatives has become an emerging challenge as the anticipative oil depletion. In this paper, the ternary anionic copolymer of carboxymethyl cellulose-acrylamide-lignosulfonate (CAL) was successfully prepared by hydrothermal polymerization. Based on the flocculation characteristics of cationic methylene blue, the optimal polymerization process was confirmed as the raw material ratio of 1:1:1, initiator dosage of 0.9 wt %, the reaction time was 5 h and the reaction temperature was 55 °C. The results showed that the decolorization ratio was 87.5% at the CAL dosage of 600 mg/L for the 500 mg/L methylene blue simulated wastewater. The CAL achieved fast flocculation kinetics and super color removal ratios in the wide ranges of environmental pH, temperature and salt concentration. The flocculation mechanism is single charge neutralization. Moreover, the estimated treatment cost of CAL is 68.3% lower than that of commercial anionic PAM. The prepared anionic CAL flocculant has the characteristics of environmental safety, excellent flocculation performance and cost-effectiveness, which shows great potential in the field of dye wastewater treatment, and also provides a feasible way for the effective utilization of biomass resources.