Effective Dye Removal by Acrylic-Based Membrane Constructed from Textile Fibers Waste

The good mechanical and chemical stability of textile acrylic fibers waste has promoted its candidacy for fabricating low cost membranes for wastewater treatment. In this work, nanofiltration membranes based on the acrylic fibers waste were successfully prepared using the phase inversion technique. First, membrane solutions with different concentrations (16, 18, 20, and 22%) of acrylic fibers waste (AF) in dimethyl formamide (DMF) were prepared. Evaluation of the membrane performance in terms of water flux and dyes (Congo red and methylene blue) rejection was investigated. Nanofiltration membrane with good water flux and dyes rejection was obtained at 20% polymer concentration. This membrane was modified by adding different ratios (3, 5, and 10 wt%) of polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) to enhance the membrane performance. Characterization of the prepared membrane was explored using attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), contact angle, and swelling properties. The results show that the addition of 5% PVP elevated its performance to a high water flux equal 320 L/m2/h and complete removal of Congo red and 90% rejection of methylene blue at low pressure (3 bar). The molecular weight cutoff of the produced membrane found to be 319.85 Dalton. Moreover, the effect of dye concentration on water flux and dye rejection at different applied pressure was studied. The entire work presented an optimization procedure for obtaining standalone nanofiltration membrane with high performance using low cost waste materials (textile fiber waste).