Resin-loaded cationic hydrogel: A new sorbent for recovering of grapefruit polyphenols

This paper presents a study of the recovering of polyphenols from grapefruit biowastes through extraction and batch adsorption process using novel resin-loaded cationic hydrogel. To prepare adsorbent, 2-(dimethylamino) ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) monomer was polymerized by free radical mechanisms in presence of resin particles and then tertiary amino groups on PDMAEMA residue were quaternized using methyl iodide. The developed adsorbent was then characterized by FTIR, SEM, XRD, and Brunauer, Emmet, and Teller analysis. The resin-loaded cationic hydrogel displayed an enhanced affinity for binding with polyphenols at pH value of 10 due to the strong electrostatic attraction between positively charged adsorbent surface and solute molecules. The adsorption capacity of 60 (mg-naringin-g^?1-adsorbent) was obtained when the other experimental conditions were chosen as follows: initial polyphenol concentration; 0.13?g?mL^?1, contact time; 30?min, temperature; 25°C. On the other hand, the adsorbent consisting solely of resin particles shown lower affinity for polyphenols. The adsorption results revealed that the resin-loaded cationic hydrogels exhibited significant improvement in the recovery of polyphenols from grapefruit peels through integrated extraction–adsorption process.