Removal of Methylene Blue from Water by Polyacrylonitrile Co Sodium Methallylsulfonate Copolymer (AN69) and Polysulfone (PSf) Synthetic Membranes

Polyacrylonitrile-co-sodium methallylsulfonate copolymer (AN69) and polysulfone (PSf) synthetic membranes were prepared and used for the removal of methylene blue (MB) from water. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Ionic exchange capacity (IEC), and Swelling ratio (Sr) were employed to determine the membrane characteristics. pH, membrane composition and initial dye concentration were used for the evaluation of the efficiency of MB adsorption on AN69/PSf membranes. Isotherms and kinetic models were applied to determine the adsorption mechanism and to calculate the values of adsorption parameters. The various methods reveal that with the increase of PSf percentage, the membrane surface becomes rougher and the average values of ionic exchange capacity and the swelling ratio reach 0.6 meq/g and 7%, respectively. The adsorption of MB is more efficient at higher pH (92%) and the maximum adsorption capacity reaches 75.75 mg/g. The mechanism of adsorption is perfectly fitted by pseudo-second order (R2 = 0.984) whereas the isotherm adsorption follows better the Freundlich isotherm (n = 1.49 and R2 = 0.96).