“…In this sense, the use of cellulosic derivatives as intermediate polymers such as cellulose acetate (TABAGHT, EL IDRISSI et al , Tenorio-Alfonso, Sánchez et al 2019), ethyl cellulose (Ma, Gong et al 2018), and carboxymethyl cellulose (Naderi, Lindström et al 2015, Li, Mei et al 2016, Hasan, Waibhaw et al 2018, Rao, Ge et al 2018, ... has appeared profitable for the development of new families of cellulose adsorbents. Recently, HydroxyethylCellulose (HEC) as nonionic and water-soluble cellulose derivative has received remarkable attention with excellent performance properties as a thickener (Coryell 2017, Luo, Liu et al 2018), binder (De Guzman and Balela 2019, Hämmer, Gassmann et al 2019, Younes, El-sharkawy et al 2019, emulsifier (Wang, He et al 2020, Yang, Li et al 2020, cement set retarder (Zhi, Ma et al 2017, Liu, Wang et al 2019, flocculent to colloidal turbidity and heavy metals removal (Jilal, El Barkany et al 2018, Chaouf, El Barkany et al 2019, Jilal, El-Barkany et al 2019, etc. HEC has a comparable chemical structure to that of cellulose, where the introduction of ethyl groups allows the intercalation of macromolecular chains, decreases the density of hydrogen bonds and increases reactivity via the increase in the density of primary hydroxyls.…”