Abstract—Novel sandwiched composite electro-spun membranes (SCEM) were fabricated by sandwiching the chitosan incorporated polyvinyl butyral (PVB) nanofiber mat between two layers of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) electro-spun mats. In order to generate inner layer of membrane, PVB-Ch nanofiber mat was collected onto the prepared PAN mat by electro-spinning. After reaching desired thickness of PVB-Ch nanofibers, top layer of membrane consisting of PAN nanofiber was composed by electro-spinning procedure under the same circumstances. After fabrication stages, SCEM was examined in respect to chromium removal from aqueous solutions. However, it can be reported that no removal was achieved even under different conditions. Therefore, surface of fabricated sandwiched composite was aminated and coated with chitosan to develop an affinity membrane for removal of hexavalent chromium. Adsorption of hexavalent chromium (Cr6+) ions were carried out in a batch arrangement. Experiments were performed as a function of contact time, solution pH, and initial Cr6+ ion concentration. The maximum adsorption capacity of 16.64 mg of Cr6+/g for A-SCEM was obtained at pH=2 according to the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. This work demonstrated that the novel electrospun membrane has potential for membrane applications in wastewater treatment systems.
Index Terms—Chitosan, electro-spinning, hexavalent chromium, membrane, nanofiber.
H. T. Kahraman and E. Pehlivan are with the Chemical Engineering Department, University of Selcuk, Turkey (e-mail: havvatutar@gmail.com, erolpehlivan@gmail.com).
A. Avcı is with the Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Selcuk, Turkey (e-mail: aavci@selcuk.edu.tr).
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Cite: Havva Tutar Kahraman, Ahmet Avcı, and Erol Pehlivan, "Preparation and Adsorption Behavior of Novel Sandwiched Composite Electro-Spun Aminated Membrane for Hexavalent Chromium Removal," International Journal of Chemical Engineering
and Applications vol. 9, no. 5, pp. 180-183, 2018.