Preparation of hemicellulose‐g‐poly(methacrylic acid)/carbon nanotube composite hydrogel and adsorption properties

An organic–inorganic composite hydrogel was prepared based on hemicellulose and multi‐wall carbon nanotubes. The effects of hydrogel amount, initial concentration, contact time, and salt concentration on the adsorption performance of the prepared hydrogels were observed using methylene blue as a model hazardous material. The results indicated that the adsorption kinetic of methylene blue on the prepared adsorbent was well fitted to the pseudo‐second‐order kinetic model and the adsorption isotherm conformed to the Freundlich model. Removal percentage of methylene blue increased with increased adsorbent amount and kept higher than 98% when adsorbent amount was above 6 g L⁻¹. Adsorption amount of methylene blue on the prepared adsorbent also increased when increasing initial concentration over the range from 50 to 500 mg L⁻¹. Both of adsorption amount and removal percentage increased with an increase in the contact time, and removal efficiency obviously deteriorated as salt concentration increased. All obtained results reported that the prepared composite hydrogel would have an application prospect in water treatment. POLYM. COMPOS., 35:45–52, 2014. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers