Waste-based hydroxyethyl cellulose from date palm biomass: Benchmarking with commercial-grade hec for brine treatment and CO₂ capture
Aya A.-H. I. MOURAD, Ameera F. MOHAMMAD, Ali H. AL-MARZOUQI, Emmanuel GALIWANGO, Essa G. LWISA, Jawad MUSTAFA
Abstract. This study presents a novel method for extracting cellulose from date palm waste, a key raw material for hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC), and demonstrates its potential in the modified Solvay process. Palm biomass, an abundant agricultural byproduct and its composition was analyzed using thermogravimetric analysis. Cellulose was successfully isolated through sequential solvent extraction, acid leaching, alkaline treatment, and bleaching, achieving a yield of 74%–76%, and subsequently converted into HEC using sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and urea solutions, highlighting its potential for valorizing agricultural waste into functional polymers. While the extracted HEC is still under optimization and detailed physicochemical characterization, the performance evaluation in this study was carried out using commercially available HEC as a benchmark material. This approach allowed for evaluating the performance of HEC in enhancing CO₂ capture and reducing brine salinity under controlled conditions using an inert particle–spouted bed reactor. The results showed that higher HEC concentrations markedly increased CO₂ uptake, reaching 1.60 g CO2/g HEC, while sodium ion concentration, the primary determinant of brine salinity, was reduced by 32.4%. These results benchmark the feasibility of using waste-derived HEC in desalination and carbon capture, highlighting its potential to convert agricultural waste into sustainable industrial materials. Future work will optimize extraction and test performance in environmental remediation.
Keywords
Hydroxyethyl Cellulose, Date Palm Biomass, Cellulose Extraction, Brine Treatment, CO2 Capture, Modified Solvay Process
Published online 6/20/2026, 9 pages
Copyright © 2026 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA
Citation: Aya A.-H. I. MOURAD, Ameera F. MOHAMMAD, Ali H. AL-MARZOUQI, Emmanuel GALIWANGO, Essa G. LWISA, Jawad MUSTAFA, Waste-based hydroxyethyl cellulose from date palm biomass: Benchmarking with commercial-grade hec for brine treatment and CO₂ capture, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 67, pp 147-155, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644904176-21
The article was published as article 21 of the book Climate Action and Sustainability
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
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