Abstract:
The ever-growing industrial sector has resulted in enhanced production of wastewater
which requires to be treated efficiently to meet stringent discharge requirements and
climate change consequences. This study investigated the performance of synthesized
Titania nanotubes incorporated in polyethylene glycol (PEG) and sodium alginate (SA)
bionanocomposite beads for treatment of textile wastewater. Removal efficiency,
adsorption capacity, kinetics, isotherms and thermodynamics of fabricated beads was
also studied. Titania nanotubes and Titania PEG-alginate bionanocomposites beads
were characterized through scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform
infrared (FTIR), BET, XRD and TGA. Titania PEG-alginate bionanocomposites beads
showed higher dye removal efficiency of 89% as compared to 69% using PEG-alginate
bionanocomposite beads without Titania nanotubes. The results instigated that higher
surface area of tubular morphology of Titania nanotubes facilitated increased
adsorption capacities (~282 mg/g) of dye compared to neat beads without Titania
nanotubes. Kinetic study revealed that pseudo second order kinetics is followed in
adsorption of pollutant’s molecules on polymer matrix’s surface. Moreover, isotherm
study devised that the adsorption process is best fit to Freundlich isotherm, while
Langmuir and Temkin isotherms were also evaluated. Stability study showed that
bionanocomposites beads were more stable with PEG in comparison to beads without
PEG. The practicability of hybrid bionanocomposite beads is further investigated in
fluidized bed membrane reactor as fluidized media to evaluate membrane fouling
mitigation and removal efficiency of Methylene blue.
