International Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2014, 4, 208-217 Published Online September 2014 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/ijoc http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ijoc.2014.43024 How to cite this paper: Hebeish, A.A. and Aly, A.A. (2014) Synthesis, Characterization and Utilization of Starch Hydroxy- propyl Sulphate for Cationic Dye Removal. International Journal of Organic Chemistry, 4, 208-217. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ijoc.2014.43024 Synthesis, Characterization and Utilization of Starch Hydroxypropyl Sulphate for Cationic Dye Removal Aly A. Hebeish, Amal A. Aly Textile Research Division, National Research Center, Cairo, Egypt Email: amalahmedali@yahoo.com Received 9 July 2014; revised 26 August 2014; accepted 10 September 2014 Copyright © 2014 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Abstract The best conditions for synthesis of starch hydroxypropyl sulphate as per the dry method were firstly established. This was done through a thorough investigation into factors affecting the syn- thesis including concentrations of both the NaOH catalyst and the 2-hydroxy-3-chloropropyl sul- phate along with duration and temperature of the reaction. The resultant newly synthesized 2-hydroxy-3-chloropropyl sulphate was then reacted with starch to obtain starch hydroxypropyl sulphate ultimately. After being characterized by making use of IR spectroscopy analysis and scanning electronic microscope, the starch hydroxypropyl sulphate samples were submitted to evaluation for cationic dye removal using Methylene Blue (MB). Cationic dye removal was studied under a variety of conditions. Factors involved encompass initial dye concentration, duration, sulphur %, pH and adsorbent dose. 100% dye removal could be achieved under certain conditions which were described in the text. Keywords Starch, Cationic Dye, Starch Sulphate, Dye Removal, Methylene Blue 1. Introduction Wastewater treatment is a major problem around the world. Growing along with the population growth, indus- tries create environmental problems and health hazards for the population. Hence, environmental concerns be- hoove scientists and engineers to develop materials and methods to lower the extent of pollution of the environ- ment [1]. In modern industrial society, dyes are widely used to color products for textiles, food, printing and dyeing. So