Characterization of sodium alginate beads and degradation of pollutants: a critical approach

Sodium alginate (SA) (NaC6H7O6) is a straight-chain polymer of sugar made up of α-l-guluronic (G) and 1,4-β-d-mannuronic (M) acids which is derived from alginic acid and can be obtained from different species of algae. It has different properties, such as pH-sensitive, nontoxic, biodegradable, perishable, nonimmunogenic, linear, hydrophilic, poly-anionic copolymer, and cheap. SA beads can be prepared by ionotropic gelation method, emulsion gelation method, and polyelectrolyte complexation method. These beads can be characterized by digital image analyzer, scanning electron microscopy, TGA, differential scanning calorimetry, and UV-Vis spectroscopy. SA beads can be used in the removal and degradation of the pollutants by using immobilization of cells or enzymes in the beads and photocatalytic degradation of different organic pollutants and dyes such as methylene blue (MB). This chapter aims to study the characterization and removal of environmental pollutants such as organic pollutants, heavy metals, cations, anions, and MB dye using SA beads.