Amine functional cellulose derived from wastepaper toward oily wastewater treatment and its demulsification mechanism

Abstract

• AWP demulsifier with amphipathicity and interfacial activity was prepared. • Recycling solid wastepaper was used as raw material. • The demulsification performance of AWP in oily wastewater exceeded 99.16%. • AWP could be used in acidic, alkaline or high salt conditions with high efficiency. Removing oil from oily wastewater is critically required prior to industrial production and environmental protection. Recycling of solid waste has received extensive attention from academia because of its economic and environmental benefits to the industry. In this work, an amine-functionalized recycling wastepaper demulsifier (AWP) was prepared and used to treat oily wastewater. The morphology, composition, wettability, and interfacial property were investigated. The results showed that AWP had appropriate amphipathy and excellent interfacial activity. Accordingly, it could adsorb and displace asphaltene at the interface, thus destroying or softening the interfacial film. AWP exhibited an excellent demulsification performance, the light transmittance of separated water and the total degrease rate exceeded 89.6% and 99.16%, respectively. Importantly, AWP could be used under the acidic, alkaline or high salt conditions. This work not only realizes the recycling of waste wastepaper but also provides a new AWP demulsifier for the treatment of oily wastewater.