Toughening of Polyvinyl Alcohol Hydrogel Through Co-Crosslinking and its Wastewater Treatment Performance by Immobilizing with Microorganism

In order to improve the hydraulic impact resistance of the polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel as microorganism immobilization carrier and meet the requirements of long-time aeration of sewage treatment, the toughening PVA hydrogel beads were prepared by co-crosslinking with polyoxypropylene triol (PPG) through the boric acid (H₃BO₃)-chemical crosslinking method. It was found that PPG could increase the consumption of H₃BO₃, participated and accelerated the crosslinking reaction of PVA, and the pore size of the surface layer and core layer of the hydrogel beads can be controlled. With increasing PPG content, the shear storage modulus (G’) and the effective network density (ν_e) increased first, reached maximum in presence of 2 wt% PPG, and decreased afterwards. A relatively low content of PPG could promote the formation of relatively uniform and dense network structure in PVA hydrogel, resulting in an improvement of the mechanical property and long-term hydraulic stability of the gel beads. By addition of PPG, the capillary water absorption capacity of PVA hydrogel can be enhanced and the high permeability can be kept well. When applying in waste water treatment, the value of the oxygen uptake rate (OUR) and COD removal rate of the PVA hydrogel immobilized with activated sludge had no obvious difference with addition of PPG, and a high microbial activity can be maintained.