β-Lactoglobulin-based aerogels: Facile preparation and sustainable removal of organic contaminants from water

Economically and efficiently removing organic pollutants from water is still a challenge in wastewater treatment. Utilizing environmentally friendly and readily available protein-based natural polymers to develop aerogels with effective removal performance and sustainable regeneration capability is a promising strategy for adsorbent design. Here, a robust and cost-effective method using inexpensive β-lactoglobulin (BLG) as raw material was proposed to fabricate BLG-based aerogels. Firstly, photocurable BLG-based polymers were synthesized by grafting glycidyl methacrylate. Then, a cross-linking reaction, including photo-crosslinking and salting-out treatment, was applied to prepared BLG-based hydrogels. Finally, the BLG-based aerogels with high porosity and ultralight weight were obtained after freeze-drying. The outcomes revealed that the biocompatible BLG-based aerogels exhibited effective removal performance for a variety of organic pollutants under perfectly quiescent conditions, and could be regenerated and reused many times via a simple and rapid process of acid washing and centrifugation. Overall, this work not only demonstrates that BLG-based aerogels are promising adsorbents for water purification but also provides a potential way for the sustainable utilization of BLG.