A Novel Biomaterial from Acrylamide Graft on NaOH-Urea Modified Rice Husk

Rice husk is a plentiful agricultural byproduct. In this paper, rice husk (RH) surface was first treated by NaOH/urea into a modified-rice husk(MRH), then the MRH was used as a new template for polymerization of acrylamide(AM) on MRH, as a result, the product named as MRH-g-AM, was formed by the free-radical initiation in aqueous solution using ammonium persulfate as an initiator. The polymer grafted on the MRH was considered as a novel copolymer which was thereafter analyzed by FTIR and SEM. The product was washed thoroughly with distilled water to remove all unreactive chemicals. The results showed that MRH was successfully reacted with AM. The SEM images indicated that MRH-g-AM appeared distinct cracks and formed a loosen structure in comparison with RH, indicating the facilitation of heavy metal ion adsorption in the future wastewater treatment.