A Combination of Waste Biomass Activated Carbon and Nylon Nanofiber for Removal of Triclosan from Aqueous Solutions

Abstract

Triclosan (TCS) is one of the biocide used as antibacterial and antifungal agent to kill and hinder the growth of bacteria and also it is used in many personal care and health care products. However, TCS can cause health and environmental problems such as environmental pollutions, acute toxicity, etc. The aim of this study is to investigate the removal of TCS from aqueous solution by combining the coconut pulp waste (Cocos nuciefera) activated carbon (AC) with nylon 6,6 membrane. To this end, first, the effects of physico-chemical characteristics of the membrane were studied. The nylon 6,6 membrane (14 wt.%] was prepared using electrospinning machine with injection rate at 0.4 mL/h, tip-to-collector distance at 15 cm, rotation speed at 1000 rpm, and applied voltage at 26 kV. The parameters studied for the membrane during the adsorption test were contact time, adsorbent dosage, agitation speed, initial TCS concentration, pH, and temperature of the TCS solution. The filtration test was done using flat sheet membrane test machine at pressure 1.0 bar. The characteristics of the membrane were analysed using the FESEM and FTIR tests. Based on the obtained results, the nylon 6,6 membrane can remove 90.2% of TCS within 5 minutes; the removal rate increased to 100% in less than 5 minutes after the membrane was combined with AC. This study proved that the combination of AC and nylon 6,6 membrane is able to maximize the TCS removal from water.