Extraction of Cellulose Acetate from Cigarette Butts As Raw Material for Making Membranes

Cigarette butts are the biggest marine contaminant. Cigarette butts is made by Ca which is a nonbiodegradable substance. Cellulose acetate is a type of polymer that takes 2-18 years to decompose. On the other hand, cellulose acetate can be used as membrane's raw material for desalinatiom of sea water to overcome the water crisis.

Forward Osmosis membranes made from cellulose acetate is an economical tool for seawater desalination. Literature studies show that there is a method for extracting cellulose acetate from cigarette butts. Leaching is carried out by solid-liquid extraction and followed by cellulose acetate precipitation. 0.02% H2SO4 solution, ethanol, and diethyl ether are used for solid-liquid extraction. Cellulose acetate precipitation is done by adding acetone and water which are then decanted and dried by the vacuum filtering method. The membrane has dope solution of cellulose acetate dissolved in a mixture of acetone, IPA, and lactic acid with an area of 0,0044 m². The membrane performance determined has a flux of 1,3 L.m^-2.hours^-1 and a Natrium rejection percentage of 98%. MgSO₄ with a concentration of 1,25 M is used as a draw solution with a flat sheet membrane configuration. It takes 20% of cigarette butts waste in Indonesia to make a seawater desalination plant that produces 100,000 m³ / day of clean water.