Abstract:

With a view to better understanding the absorption and release of zinc ions by alginate fibers, this paper prepared pure zinc alginate fibers by a wet spinning process and prepared alginic acid fibers by treating calcium alginate fibers with hydrochloric acid. The absorption of zinc ions by alginic acid fibers was studied under different times, temperatures and zinc ion concentrations. Results showed that by controlling the weight ratio between alginate fiber and zinc sulphate, it is possible to prepare alginate fibers containing different amount of zinc ions. This paper used saline and aqueous solutions with different protein contents to treat zinc alginate fibers and test the zinc ion concentration in the contact solution. Results showed that the amount of zinc ion released is higher at low temperature than at high temperature, with the protein in the solution accelerating the release of zinc ions.