Adsorption and desorption properties of modified feather and feather/PP melt‐blown filter cartridge of lead ion (Pb2+)

Abstract

ABSTRACTDuck and chicken feather fibers are waste products of the poultry industry, creating a serious solid waste problem around the world. Previous works showed that feather fibers can be reused to adsorb heavy metal ions from water. To improve the adsorption capacity of feather fibers, sodium pyrosulfite (Na2S2O5) was used in this article to modify the feather fiber in order to improve its Pb2+ adsorption capacity. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) quantified chemical and structural changes of Na2S2O5 modified feather fibers. In addition, Na2S2O5 modified feather fibers were processed into feather/polypropylene (PP) melt‐blown filter cartridges and their dynamic Pb2+ adsorption properties were investigated. Finally, the desorption effects of NaOH and sodium sulfide nonahydrate (Na2S·9H2O) aqueous solutions on the feather fiber adsorbed with Pb2+ were studied. It is found that Pb2+ adsorption capacity of the feather fiber increased after being modified by Na2S2O5. Modified feather/PP filter cartridge exhibited higher Pb2+ adsorption capacity than feather/PP filter cartridge and pure PP filter cartridge in the whole dynamic adsorption process. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 41555.