Evaluation of cellulose and carboxymethyl cellulose/poly(vinyl alcohol) membranes

Cellulose was isolated from rice straw and converted to carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC). Both polymers were crosslinked with poly(vinyl alcholo) (PVA). The physical properties of the resulting membranes were characterized by FT-IR, TGA, DSC and SEM. The cellulose and CMC were first prepared from bleached rice straw pulp. The infrared spectroscopy of the resulting polymer membranes indicated a decrease in the absorbance of the OH group at 3300–3400 cm−1, which is due to bond formation with either the cellulose or CMC with the PVA. The thermal stability of PVA/cellulose and PVA/CMC membranes was lower than PVA membrane. The surface of the resulting polymer membranes showed smooth surface in case of the PVA/CMC membrane and rough surface in case of the PVA/cellulose membrane. Desalination test, using 0.2% NaCl, showed that pure PVA membranes had no effect while membranes containing either cellulose or CMC as filler were able to decrease the content of the NaCl from the solution by 25% and 15%, respectively. Transport properties, including water and chloroform vapor were studied. The moisture transport was reduced by the presence of both cellulose and CMC. Moreover, the membranes containing cellulose and CMC showed significantly reduced flux compared to the pure PVA. The water sorption, solubility and soaking period at different pH solutions were also studied and showed that the presence of both cellulose and CMC influences the properties.