Properties of Carboxy methyl cellulose produced from waste paper

In this study, the properties of carboxymethyl cellulose made from waste paper were investigated. For this purpose, waste paper with different conditions was utilized to producing carboxymethyl cellulose, which included waste paper without ink and without bleaching (CMC-Ni), waste paper with ink and without bleaching (CMC-P), waste paper without ink and bleached (CMC-E). Also, industrial cellulose available in the market was utilized to producing carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC-Ic), and in order to compare the resulting samples, the properties of industrial carboxymethyl cellulose were also examined as a control. Infrared spectroscopy was used to investigate the chemical structure of carboxymethyl cellulose. And to investigate the manufactured carboxymethyl celluloses, the degree of substitution (DS), viscosity and pH of the samples were measured. The FT-IR results showed that the carboxymethyl celluloses obtained from waste paper have functional groups similar to industrial carboxymethyl cellulose, and the presence of ink and other impurities had no effect on their chemical structure. Carboxymethyl cellulose made from industrial cellulose showed differences in structure. The most important difference between cellulose and carboxymethyl cellulose is the presence of a peak at the wavelength of 1060/1 cm, which indicates the presence of carboxyl groups. Investigating the characteristics of the manufactured carboxymethyl celluloses showed that the degree of substitution of carboxymethyl cellulose is about 0.73 and the degree of substitution of carboxymethyl cellulose obtained from unbleached waste paper is about 0.69, which are not much different from each other. The viscosity of industrial carboxymethyl cellulose was higher than carboxymethyl celluloses made from waste paper. The characteristics of carboxymethyl cellulose obtained from bleached waste paper were more similar to industrial carboxymethyl cellulose. The pH of carboxymethyl celluloses was about 8 and very close to each other. In general, according to the obtained results, it can be concluded that the presence of ink and other impurities in the structure of waste paper does not have much effect on the characteristics of carboxymethyl cellulose, and by removing these steps, a simpler and more economical method can be used to produce carboxymethyl cellulose. Also, avoid from environmental pollution caused by these processes.