Removal of hydrolyzed Reactive Black 5 from aqueous solution using a polyethylenimine–polyvinyl chloride composite fiber

Abstract

In present research a powerful adsorbent was fabricated and employed for removal of anionic reactive dye, Reactive Black 5 (RB5) from aqueous solutions. Polyethylenimine (PEI)–polyvinyl chloride (PVC) composite fiber was prepared by spinning PEI–PVC blend into the mixture of water and methanol. To evaluate the dye sorption performance of PEI–PVC fiber, various parameters that included the effect of pH, dye concentration, contact time, and salt concentration in a batch process were studied. The optimal pH for hydrolyzed RB5 adsorption was observed in the range of pH 2.0–5.3. The sorption kinetic data were better fitted to the pseudo-second-order kinetic model compared with the pseudo-first-order kinetic model. Adsorption isotherm experiments were fitted to the Langmuir model and the maximum uptake of the PEI–PVC fiber was estimated. At a low initial dye concentration, the effect of salt concentration was negligible. However, RB5 uptake was significantly decreased with increasing salt concentration at a high initial dye concentration. By using 0.01M NaOH, RB5 was easily desorbed from the dye-loaded PEI–PVC fiber. These findings suggested that PEI–PVC fiber can be successfully used as an adsorbent for removal of anionic reactive dyes from aqueous effluents.