Radiation grafting of 2-hydroxy ethyl methacrylate (HEMA)/glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) onto polyethylene-coated polypropylene non-woven fabric

The paper presents results of an investigation of the possibility of applying polyethylene-coated polypropylene (PE-co-PP) nonwoven fabric for treating dye wastes resulting from wastewater of the textile industry. For this purpose the radiation-induced graft copolymerization of binary mixtures of 2-hydroxy ethyl methacrylate (HEMA)/glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) onto polyethylene-coated polypropylene by the pre-irradiation method has been investigated. The effect of different factors that may affect the grafting percent such as solvent type and comonomer compositions were studied. Two solvents, dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) and 1-butanol were used. It was found that the degree of grafting depend upon the type of solvent and the composition of the comonomer mixture. Morphology of grafted nonwoven fabric was examined by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The hydrophilic properties in terms of swelling percent and water uptake were investigated. The higher swelling and water uptake percent were achieved at 100% HEMA diluted with 1-butanol. The use of these modified samples as absorbents for different classes of dyestuffs normally released from textile factories was achieved. The results obtained showed that the highest percentage of dye sorption was found in the case of basic dye and the lowest one in the case of reactive dye, depending on the reactive groups on the dye. Copolymers with a higher proportion of HEMA monomer diluted with 1-butanol as solvent showed the highest hydrophilic properties and higher dye uptake.