Improving the removal efficiency of methylene blue on 3D-printed camellia seed powder scaffold using porogen

Abstract

This paper proposes a strategy for improving the adsorption efficiency of methylene blue (MB) on 3D-printed camellia seed powder (CSP) scaffold. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) was employed as a porogen for CSP blended with polylactic acid (PLA) and poly(butylene succinate) (PBS). The PLA/PBS/CSP/PVA composite scaffold was fabricated via 3D-printing technique. And the prepared scaffold was eroded by water for enhancing the porosity. The scaffold with and without water-erosion were characterized respectively, and their MB adsorption performances and mechanism were investigated. The porosity of PLA/PBS/CSP/PVA with water-erosion and PLA/PBS/CSP scaffolds are 48.37 % and 21.24 % respectively, and the corresponding removal efficiency of MB in 100 mg/L MB solution for 12 h are 89.84 % and 57.27 %, suggesting that the construction of porous obviously accelerates adsorption speed of MB on the scaffold. The MB adsorption process of the scaffold with water-erosion can be described by Pseudo-second-order model. The adsorption isotherms indicate that a monolayer adsorption is formed on the scaffold surface. The statistical physics monolayers models and experimental characterization were further employed to investigate the adsorption mechanism of MB molecules on scaffold. Moreover, the adsorption ratio of the scaffold with water-erosion remains 98.21 % at 7 runs of adsorption-desorption experiment, exhibiting a good reusability. These results will open a new understanding in the design and preparation of a new candidate for dye molecules removal with high efficiency.