Functionalized cellulose to remove surfactants from cosmetic products in wastewater

•PM-DCC, a new eco-friendly flocculant, was successfully synthesized.•A very small amount of PM-DCC greatly increases the removal efficiency of LAS.•PM-DCC facilitates rapid adsorption of LAS in aqueous solution. A flocculant composed of paper mulberry dicarboxylic cellulose (PM-DCC) made from using paper mulberry (Broussonetia kazinoki Siebold and Zucc.) has been developed to reduce the amount of inorganic coagulants needed to remove surfactants in wastewater. The characteristics of PM and soda pulp were determined according to the degree of polymerization, α-cellulose, lignin, free sugar, and extract contents. FTIR, XRD, the aldehyde content, the carboxyl content and coagulant-flocculation experiments were conducted to confirm the properties of PM-DCC and paper mulberry dialdehyde cellulose (PM-DAC). A dramatic removal efficiency (95.62 %) was revealed when 0.3 % PM-DCC was added into a linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS) solution with 1% FeCl3·6H2O at pH 2. This means that PM-DCC contributes to both a lower amount of inorganic coagulant needed and a reduction of water pollution by an ecofriendly method.