Zero Hunger (SDG 2), Good Health & Well-being (SDG 3)
Preparation and characterization of a biodegradable hydrogel for female hygiene products
V Paul * , P Govender * Department of Chemistry, Durban University of Technology, South Africa * vimlap@dut.ac.za
Most feminine hygiene products are currently made of synthetic non-biodegradable and toxic polymers, based on acrylates such as acrylic acid or acrylamide. The lack of suitable disposal methods spurs concerns for significant environmental damage. The South African aspiration of a circular economy has led to a goal of zero waste to landfill by 2030. Hence, an eco-friendly hydrogel alternative to these polymers was synthesised from biomaterials; encompassing the overall objective of pollutant reduction. Hydrogels created from naturally occurring substances namely chitosan. In this research, the synthesis of biodegradable hydrogels was produced with variability in the molecular weight (high molecular weight (HW) derived from shrimp shells and synthetic low molecular weight (LW)) of chitosan (80 wt%). The chitosan was dissolved in 0.1M acetic acid and crosslinked via pH adjustment with 0.1M sodium hydroxide. Hydroxyethylcellulose (10 wt%) and succinic acid (10 wt%) were added to the mixture to investigate the effects of thickening and cross-linking support respectively, in the hydrogel formation process. The swelling behaviour of samples with high molecular weight chitosan with succinic acid and hydroxyethyl-cellulose showed the peak water absorbency capability when compared to other derivatives. The absorbency test of the hydrogel infused into a commercial cotton pad was compared to the bare commercial sanitary pad resulting in a 24% improvement. This demonstrates the overall improvement in the absorbency of the sustainable synthesised hydrogel over the commercial synthetic polymers. This demonstrates that the synthesised hydrogel has the potential to supersede currently used synthetic polymers in feminine hygiene products. The hydrogel was characterised by scanning electron microscope (SEM), microscope analysis, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) illustrating the chemical and physical changes with the addition of each individual component (i.e. Chitosan (HW and LW), hydroxyethylcellulose and succinic acid). Key words: biodegradable; sanitary pads; hydrogels References 1. Furuike, T., Komoto, D., Hashimoto, H. & Tamura, H. 2017. Preparation of chitosan hydrogel and its solubility in organic acids. International journal of biological macromolecules, 104 , 1620-1625. 2. Lee, C.M., Mittal, A., Barnette, A.L., Kafle, K., Park, Y.B., Shin, H., Johnson, D.K., Park, S. and Kim, S.H., 2013. Cellulose polymorphism study with sum-frequency-generation (SFG) vibration spectroscopy: identification of exocyclic CH 2 OH conformation and chain orientation. Cellulose, 20 , pp.991-1000. 3. Tsao, C.T., Chang, C.H., Li, Y.D., Wu, M.F., Lin, C.P., Han, J.L., Chen, S.H. and Hsieh, K.H., 2011. Development of chitosan/ dicarboxylic acid hydrogels as wound dressing materials. Journal of bioactive and compatible polymers, 26(5) , pp.519-536
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© The Author(s), 2025
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