Fabrication and characterisation of polyvinylidene fluoride co-hexafluoropropylene polymer inclusion membranes for reactive orange 16 dye removal

Abstract

By implementing green technology, polymer inclusion membranes (PIMs) were used as an extractant for the removal of Reactive Orange 16 (RO16) dye as it is an easy and effective way. The extraction process is used because it is found to be more economical and effective compared to other dye removal methods. The PIMs consists of Polyvinylidene Fluoride Co-HFP (PVDF-Co-HFP) as a base polymer, Aliquat 336 as a carrier; dissolved in tetrahydrofuran (THF). The formulation of the components was varied to determine the optimum composition of PIMs with the effective extraction ability. The PIMs was characterised by Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), ion exchange capacity (IEC), water uptake, contact angle and Universal Testing Machine (UTM) methods to determine the physical, mechanical and chemical properties of the PIMs. Various parameters such as effect of carrier, initial dye concentration and pH were investigated. The optimum extraction of RO16 dye at 99.62% were obtained at PIMs were 9 % of carrier,10 mg/L initial dye concentration, pH 2 and agitation speed of 500 rpm at room temperature for 4 hrs. This proven that the fabricated PIMs has potential in removing dye.