Modified cellulose fibres for adsorption of dissolved organic solutes

Cellulose fibres were grafted with aliphatic anhydrides having C6, C8, C12 and C16 chain length using a heterogeneous solvent exchange acylation procedure. The ensuing materials were fully characterised by FTIR, solid state ¹³C-NMR, Wide-angle X-ray scattering and contact angle measurements. These techniques showed that the chemical coupling has indeed occurred. The prepared modified fibres appeared to be efficient to trap different organic molecules dissolved in water. Recycling tests revealed that the saturated substrates could be regenerated tens of times without loosing their capacity of absorption of organic contaminants.