Sustainability, the word of the moment and a goal that all industries want to achieve, is based on three basic principles: society, environment, and economy. In search of more ecological practices and reduced costs, many companies are currently updating their practices and, consequently, evolving.
The textile and pharmaceutical industries are some of the most influential industries today, contributing to the well-being of humanity and providing socioeconomic benefits, but in them, water resources are affected, with current practices being insufficient to guarantee the treatment of wastewater.
The objective of this research is to develop a cellulose acetate (CA) membrane, originating from pre-consumer cotton waste, modified with an absorbent to capture wastewater contaminants, and to thereby prevent pollution and the deterioration of marine ecosystems. Cork particles will be incorporated into the membrane and tested as potential contaminant absorbers. Membranes with and without additives will be characterized physically, chemically, and mechanically to guarantee optimal performance.
Several stages in this project have already been completed. The first consisted of the extraction of CA from cotton waste via the homogeneous acetylation of cellulose. The extraction was successful, but it is not possible to produce a membrane of 100% recycled CA, though it is viable to create membranes with a combination of commercial CA and recycled CA, using a ratio of 50%. When joining the cork, the membrane does not break and remains in the structure.
Powdered cork was washed, and thanks to the reduced particle size, the stability and homogeneity of cellulose membranes was achieved during production via the phase inversion process. The preliminary results demonstrated the potential of cork to absorb the antibiotic ciprofloxacin and synthetic methylene blue dye (1g of cork to 20 mL of solution). With this formulation, the aim is to find a way of treating textile and pharmaceutical waste based on waste from the industries themselves.
