Functionalization of cellulose acetate nanofibrous membranes for removal of particulate matters and dyes

Xiao Yang; Hongyang Ma; Yi Chen; Shyam Venkateswaran; Benjamin S Hsiao

doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.131852

Functionalization of cellulose acetate nanofibrous membranes for removal of particulate matters and dyes

Int J Biol Macromol. 2024 Apr 26;269(Pt 2):131852. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.131852. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Xiao Yang¹, Hongyang Ma², Yi Chen¹, Shyam Venkateswaran³, Benjamin S Hsiao³

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China; Department of Chemistry, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-3400, USA. Electronic address: mahy@mail.buct.edu.cn.
³ Department of Chemistry, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-3400, USA.

PMID: 38679253
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.131852

Abstract

Particulates and organic toxins, such as microplastics and dye molecules, are contaminants in industrial wastewater that must be purified due to environmental and sustainability concerns. Carboxylated cellulose acetate (CTA-COOH) nanofibrous membranes were fabricated using electrospinning followed by an innovative one-step surface hydrolysis/oxidation replacing the conventional two-step reactions. This approach offers a new pathway for the modification strategy of cellulose-based membranes. The CTA-COOH membrane was utilized for the removal of particulates and cationic dyes through filtration and adsorption, respectively. The filtration performance of the CTA-COOH nanofibrous membrane was carried out; high separation efficiency and low pressure drop were achieved, in addition to the high filtration selectivity against 0.6-μm and 0.8-μm nanoparticles. A cationic Bismarck Brown Y, was employed to challenge the adsorption capability of the CTA-COOH nanofibrous membrane, where the maximum adsorption capacity of the membrane for BBY was 158.73 mg/g. The self-standing CTA-COOH membrane could be used to conduct adsorption-desorption for 17 cycles with the regeneration rate as high as 97.0 %. The CTA-COOH nanofibrous membrane has excellent mechanical properties and was employed to manufacture a spiral wound adsorption cartridge, which exhibited remarkable separation efficiency in terms of treated water volume, which was 5.96 L, and retention rate, which was 100 %.

Keywords: Adsorption; Electrospun nanofibrous membrane; Microfiltration.