To be co-authored by Dr. Dhurgham Hani Kadhim Alalwan and Hussein Ali Qabel; College of Pharmacy, University of Kerbala publishes a scientific paper which is entitled “Green Synthesis and Characterization of Guar Gum/Polyacrylamide/Activated Carbon Hydrogel for Efficient Methylene Blue Removal”, in Journal of Nanostruct, that is indexed in Scopus and Clarivate databases, with an impact factor of 1.4 and a CiteScore of 2.3.
An innovative approach was developed for removing highly potent dyes, such as methylene blue (MB), from simulated solutions under various application conditions. The sorbent material was green hydrogels based on guar gum/polyacrylamide (GG/PAm) fabricated with activated carbon (GG/PAAm/AC). The crosslinker N, N’-methylene bisacrylamide (MBA) and the initiator potassium persulfate (KPS) were used in minimal amounts to adhere to green chemistry principles. The synthesis was performed under mild conditions, and the polymerisation was carried out at 60 °C, indicating a lower energy requirement. Different combinations were tried, varying the concentrations of GG (0.12–0.2 g), PAm (0.3–3 g), AC (0.01-0.1g) , KPS (0.01–0.1 g), and MBA (0.02–0.12 g). Of the ratios investigated, the best configuration of hydrogels was 0.15 g GG, 2.0 g , PAM, 0.08 g AC , 0.05 g KPS, and 0.08 g MBA, which generated a hydrogel with increased water-holding and hardness, and a higher adsorptive rate. The effect of AC on the crystallographic and thermal properties of the hydrogel composites was verified via the XRD and TGA analyses, respectively. The reactivation efficiency of the prepared composite surface initially reached 98% after the first regeneration cycle and decreased to 81% by the fifth cycle. This gradual decline indicates partial loss of active sites over successive uses. However, the presence of active carbon (AC) played a critical and effective role in maintaining regeneration performance by providing a stable, high-surface-area network that supports dye desorption and functional group recovery. The reusability investigation demonstrated that the sorbents were highly effective in removing significant amounts of pollutants after four adsorption–desorption cycles.
This study aims at promoting applied scientific research of the University that supports development and environmental protection.