NOZZLELESS ELECTROSPUN NANOFIBERS FOR REMEDIATION OF TEXTILE WASTEWATER

Abstract

Nowadays, nano-materials in the form of nanoparticles or nano-fibers have potential impact for water desalination and purification. The main purpose of this work is the utilization of renewable cheap/waste protienic biopolymers (PBP); namely keratin (from feather) and sericin (from natural silk) in the preparation of functional nano-fibrous mat (NFM) for removal of metal ions and dyes from industrial wastewater. These biopolymers were be extracted from their natural resources that may be discarded to the environment during textile processes causing pollution problems. The said biopolymers were supported by polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) in a relatively cheap non-aqueous solvent. Different concentrations of keratin, sericin, or mixture thereof were blended with the prepared PVA to obtain electro-spinnable composite with different functional groups. The said composite was electrospun into NFM using nozzles-less electro-spinneret. The rheological properties of the prepared composites were assessed. Chemical structure and the thermal behavior of the obtained nanofibers were studied using FTIR and TGA, respectively. The surface morphology and fibre diameter of the prepared NFM were examined by Scanning Electron Microscopy. The efficiency of the obtained NFM to capture anionic and cationic dyes, as well as some metal cations was assigned. Results of this study show that PBP/PVA nanofibers have higher capacity to adsorb dyes as well as metal cations than PVA nanofibers. Moreover, water analyses results indicated the relatively high adsorption capacity of PBP/PVA NFM led to lowering the COD, BOD, and TDS of the purified water.