Enhanced dynamic Cu(II) ion removal using hot-pressed chitosan / poly (vinyl alcohol) electrospun nanofibrous affinity membrane (ENAM)

Abstract

Abstract Different Multilayer electrospun nanofibrous membranes were synthesized to study the effects of potentially important steps and parameters including hot-pressing and chitosan / poly (vinyl alcohol) (CTS/PVA) solutions on the membranes performance in Cu(II) ions removal. Due to the importance of continuous adsorption process, in this research, dynamic removal from synthetic wastewater of Cu(II) ions was discussed. Five ENAMs were prepared using different chitosan / poly (vinyl alcohol) (CTS/PVA) solutions. A bead free, smooth ENAM with uniform interconnected porous structure was obtained using 3 % wt./vol CTS solution with CTS/PVA weight ratio of 50/50. The average fiber diameter, porosity and average pore diameter of the as synthesized ENAM were 99.1 nm, 50.6 %, and 0.189 μm, respectively. Multilayer ENAMs were prepared with steady state pure water fluxes of 237–706 LMH/bar as well as time dependent rejections up to 98.6 %. Considering the slight (3 %) reduction of multilayer ENAMs rejection, as well as their high (80 %) flux recovery ratio (FRR) after two regeneration cycles, it can be concluded that the membranes are definitely reusable.