OBTENÇÃO DE HIDROGÉIS A PARTIR DA BIOMASSA DE CANA-DE-AÇÚCAR PARA APLICAÇÃO COMO AGENTE DE LIBERAÇÃO CONTROLADA DO HERBICIDA ATRAZINA

Abstract

Sugarcane biomass is one of the most residue generated in Brazil; however, the generation of a large amount of waste has been a concern for decades. Due to the high proportion of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin in its composition, sugarcane biomass has been used for several extractions and purification processes for the production of new materials. Cellulose, for example, has been widely explored and applied to the development of numerous products, including hydrogel. Hydrogels are superabsorbent polymeric networks capable of retaining a large amount of water. Its application is disseminated in areas, such as medicine and agriculture. In farm management, the use of hydrogels has been greater for the controlled release of nutrients and pesticides. Hereupon, this study aimed to extract cellulose from sugarcane biomass to synthesize cellulose acetate for the production of a superabsorbent hydrogel. The cellulose, cellulose acetate, and hydrogels were subjected to some characterization techniques such as Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, where it was possible to characterize the functional groups of the products obtained. Scanning Electron Microscopy was used to evaluate the change in the surface of the materials. However, we observed by the inversion test and visually that the hydrogel produced by the cellulose acetate from the biomass was not effectively formed. However, swelling and controlled release tests of atrazine were performed with hydrogel produced from commercial cellulose acetate. We observed that after 10 hours the release entered a state of equilibrium. The results were satisfactory for this hydrogel, indicating the possibility of its use in the field for the controlled release of pesticides.