SYNTHESIS OF ALGAE DERIVATIVE CELLULOSE AND ITS COMPOSITES TO VARIOUS APPLIC

Wastewater from agricultural and industrial activities released into the environment contains pollutants of various contaminants, depending on the source of wastewater. Some examples of the pollutants include organic compounds such as dyes, fertilizers, and pesticides. These pollutants are harmful to the environment, especially when the content of these pollutants is high if not treated properly. Dyes from industrial, agricultural and domestic activities are one of the pollutants that gives a serious threat towards the environment which affects the ability to build a sustainable habit. Thus, the Final Year Project titled ‘Synthesis of algae derivative cellulose and its composites to various application’ is done to investigate the methods to remove dye from water using algae cellulose and its composites. This project aims to synthesize the cellulose and its composites which will be characterized by various analytical techniques and applied on dye removal. There are three main objectives of this research project which are to synthesize cellulose from algae biomass, to characterize the synthesized cellulose and its composites and to apply the cellulose and its composites on dye adsorption. A literature review on the agglomeration issues in the composites was done, along with the ways to overcome the issue, which is by adding other matters into the composites. Besides that, a comparative summary on the cellulose preparation from various natural resources, characterization of cellulose form various natural resources, and dye removal by various bio-adsorbents, along with the research gaps are also done. Next, the steps on the preparation and synthesis of algae cellulose and its composites are done, which will be characterized by various analytical techniques namely the FTIR, SEM-EDS, BET and TGA. From then the cellulose and its composites will be used for dye removal application from laboratory stock solution, which will be analyzed using UV-vis. The experimental and analysis results are also written, tabulated, plotted, and discussed in this report. Based on the results obtained, the PLA + 2% cellulose + 2% AC + 1% MMT composite shows the best analysis results and the highest adsorption of MB dye solution. This shows that the cellulose can be used as both a natural and modified adsorbent