Simultaneous adsorption for cationic and anionic dyes using chitosan/electrospun sodium alginate nanofiber composite sponges

Advances in structure designing and function tailoring strategy toward alginate-based hydrogels for efficient water remediation: A review

Alginate (mainly sodium alginate, SA), as a natural polysaccharide material, has been widely applied in water remediation due to its excellent biocompatibility, degradability, and high hydration properties. Alginate hydrogels exhibit high adsorption capacity, effectively removing heavy metal ions, dyes, antibiotics, phosphate ions, and other pollutants from wastewater. This review begins with a description of the chemical structure of sodium alginate and its physicochemical properties, followed by a detailed discussion of the preparation methods of alginate-based composite hydrogels, including physical and chemical crosslinking, emulsification, electrostatic complexation, self-assembly, ultrasound and microwave-assisted methods. Based on the different compositions of the composites, alginate-based composite hydrogels are classified into several types for the removal of specific pollutants. Moreover, the paper systematically summarizes the research progress of alginate-based composite hydrogels in adsorbing heavy metal ions, dyes, antibiotics, phosphate ions for application effects. Although alginate-based composite hydrogels demonstrate great potential in water remediation, challenges such as insufficient mechanical strength, poor regeneration ability, and low stability under extreme conditions still exist. Finally, the future development prospects of alginate composite hydrogels in the field of water remediation, as well as potential research directions to improve their adsorption performance, enhance their regeneration capacity, and improve their environmental friendliness are presented.

3D Janus sponge with controllable pore size for stable separation of oil-water emulsion and dye contaminants

The development of separation materials with high flux, anti-oil fouling, long-term stability, and the ability to remove various pollutants is an urgent requirement in the field of oil-water separation. Herein, we designed a Janus sponge with multiple separation functions. Specifically, we first prepared the PCA-CS gel coating on the polyurethane (PU) sponge through the co-deposition of protocatechuic acid (PCA) and chitosan (CS), and then Janus sponge was obtained through bottom-up approach of adsorbing stearic acid (SA) and an ethanol suspension of titanium dioxide (TiO2). The prepared Janus sponge exhibits excellent wetting behavior and oil adhesion resistance, and can maintain stable performance in acidic, alkaline, saline solutions and ultrasonic environment. The pore size of the Janus sponge can be adjusted by mechanical compression to efficiently separate various types of emulsions, dyes and mixed wastewater. Among them, the emulsion and dye separation efficiency can both be above 99.6 %, and can maintain the high flux with 15372.7 L m-2 h-1. More importantly, the prepared Janus sponge can effectively remove the emulsified oil droplets from the wastewater generated by the automotive final assembly shop. Consequently, it can be predicted that Janus sponge exhibits great application potential in emulsion and dye wastewater treatment.

Polydopamine modified coconut shell biochar decorated with ZIF-8 for improved adsorption of malachite green and rhodamine B from aqueous solution

Although various biochars from different biomass materials have been developed to remediate dye-contaminated environments, the removal capabilities of pristine biochar for dyes urgently require further enhancement due to insufficient surface adsorption sites. To introduce more adsorption sites, this work proposes a simple approach to fabricate coconut shell biochar (CSB) based adsorbent by anchoring zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) via the active sites provided by polydopamine (PDA)-coated CSB. The nucleation sites provided by the PDA layer promote the dispersion of ZIF-8 on the surface of CSB, resulting in sufficient adsorption sites for removing malachite green (MG) and rhodamine B (RB) from wastewater. The resulting CSB/PDA/ZIF-8 demonstrates a large specific surface area (749.54 m2 g-1) and outstanding adsorption capacities for MG (1568 mg g-1) and RB (1496 mg g-1). Furthermore, CSB/PDA/ZIF-8 adsorbents can maintain a satisfactory removal rate for MG (91%) and RB (77%) even after five reuses. The analysis of the adsorption mechanism exhibits that electrostatic interactions, hydrogen bonds, coordination bonds, and π-π stacking are of significance for adsorbing MG and RB. Therefore, CSB/PDA/ZIF-8 is a promising candidate for dye wastewater treatment, while this work provides guidance for the high-quality utilization of biomass materials.

High adsorption capacities for dyes by a pH-responsive sodium alginate/sodium lignosulfonate/carboxylated chitosan/polyethyleneimine adsorbent

Dyes are indispensable for the rapid development of society, but untreated dye wastewater can threaten human health. In this study, an adsorbent (SA/SL/CCS/PEI@MNPs) was synthesized by one-pot method using magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), sodium alginate (SA), sodium lignosulfonate (SL), carboxylated chitosan (CCS) and polyethyleneimine (PEI). The adsorbent was mesoporous micrometer-sized particles with pore size of 34.92 nm, which was favorable for dynamic column experiments. SA/SL/CCS/PEI@MNPs possessed pH-responsive performance. Under acidic condition, the maximum adsorption capacities for anionic dyes (tartrazine, reactive black-5, indigo carmine) reached >550 mg/g. Under alkaline condition, those for cationic dyes (methylene blue, methyl violet, neutral red) exceeded 1900 mg/g. The function of the various modifiers was investigated. The results indicated that the incorporation of SL, CCS and PEI was able to provide plenty of sulfonate, carboxylate and amino/imine reactive groups so that adsorption capacities of dyes were improved. The adsorption mechanism was explored by FTIR and XPS. At the same time, the adsorption mechanism was more deeply analyzed using molecular dynamics simulations and radial distribution function. It was demonstrated that the dyes adsorption on the SA/SL/CCS/PEI@MNPs was mainly due to electrostatic attraction and π-π interaction. In addition, the adsorbent had good reusability, and the removal still reached over 90 % after five cycles. In conclusion, the adsorbent displayed a broad prospect for the adsorption of organic dyes.

Synthesis and Dye Adsorption Dynamics of Chitosan-Polyvinylpolypyrrolidone (PVPP) Composite

One major environmental issue responsible for water pollution is the presence of dyes in the aquatic environment as a result of human activity, particularly the textile industry. Chitosan-Polyvinylpolypyrrolidone (PVPP) polymer composite beads were synthesized and explored for the adsorption of dyes (Bismarck brown (BB), orange G (OG), brilliant blue G (BBG), and indigo carmine (IC)) from dye solution. The CS-PVPP beads demonstrated high removal efficiency of BB (87%), OG (58%), BBG (42%), and IC (49%). The beads demonstrated a reasonable surface area of 2.203 m2/g and were negatively charged in the applicable operating pH ranges. TGA analysis showed that the polymer composite can withstand decomposition up to 400 °C, proving high stability in harsh conditions. FTIR analysis highlighted the presence of N-H amine, O-H alcohol, and S=O sulfo groups responsible for electrostatic interaction and hydrogen bonding with the dye molecules. A shift in the FTIR bands was observed on N-H and C-N stretching for the beads after dye adsorption, implying that adsorption was facilitated by hydrogen bonding and Van der Waals forces of attraction between the hydroxyl, amine, and carbonyl groups on the surface of the beads and the dye molecules. An increase in pH increased the adsorption capacity of the beads for BB while decreasing OG, BBG, and IC due to their cationic and anionic nature, respectively. While an increase in temperature did not affect the adsorption capacity of OG and BBG, it significantly improved the removal of BB and IC from the dye solution and the adsorption was thermodynamically favoured, as demonstrated by the negative Gibbs free energy at all temperatures. Adsorption of dye mixtures followed the characteristic adsorption nature of the individual dyes. The beads show great potential for applications in the treatment of dye wastewater.

Microcapsules based on biological macromolecules for intestinal health: A review

Intestinal dysfunction is becoming increasingly associated with neurological and endocrine issues, raising concerns about its impact on world health. With the introduction of several breakthrough technologies for detecting and treating intestinal illnesses, significant progress has been made in the previous few years. On the other hand, traditional intrusive diagnostic techniques are expensive and time-consuming. Furthermore, the efficacy of conventional drugs (not capsules) is reduced since they are more likely to degrade before reaching their target. In this context, microcapsules based on different types of biological macromolecules have been used to encapsulate active drugs and sensors to track intestinal ailments and address these issues. Several biomacromolecules/biomaterials (natural protein, alginate, chitosan, cellulose and RNA etc.) are widely used for make microcapsules for intestinal diseases, and can significantly improve the therapeutic effect and reduce adverse reactions. This article systematically summarizes microencapsulated based on biomacromolecules material for intestinal health control and efficacy enhancement. It also discusses the application and mechanism research of microencapsulated biomacromolecules drugs in reducing intestinal inflammation, in addition to covering the preparation techniques of microencapsulated drug delivery systems used for intestinal health. Microcapsule delivery systems' limits and potential applications for intestinal disease diagnosis, treatment, and surveillance were highlighted.

One-step fabrication of millimeter-scale hollow vesicles with chitosan /DADMAC/ sodium alginate graft copolymer for enhanced anionic dye adsorption

Hollow vesicles are promising in water treatment due to their unique structure of the membrane and inner cavity. However, the adsorption capacity needs to be improved for targeted pollutants. Herein, millimeter-scale hollow vesicles were prepared with a one-step process of sequential stirring and grafting using chitosan, diallyldimethylammonium chloride, and sodium alginate as raw materials with the purpose of efficient removal of anionic dyes from wastewater. The composite vesicles were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. The hollow vesicles showed the structure of the cationic membrane and the inner cavity, facilitating the dye adsorption. The adsorption capacity for the anionic dye Reactive Black 5 reached 698.1 mg/g, more than twice that of the binary composite vesicles without graft. The adsorption kinetics and isotherm data coincided with the pseudo-second-order and Langmuir models, respectively, and the adsorption mechanism was monolayer chemisorption. Moreover, the vesicles worked well in wide ranges of environment pH, temperature, and co-existing pollutants. They also possessed excellent cyclic regeneration performance, in which 93 % of the initial adsorption capacity was maintained after four cycles. These results indicate that the millimeter-scale hollow vesicles exhibit broad application prospects for wastewater purification.

A novel sponge composite of chitosan-sodium tripolyphosphate-melamine for anionic dye Orange II removal

Since the potential carcinogenic, toxic and non-degradable dyes trigger serious environmental contamination by improper treatment, developing novel adsorbents remains a major challenge. A novel high efficiency and biopolymer-based environmental-friendly adsorbent, chitosan‑sodium tripolyphosphate-melamine sponge (CTS-STPP-MS) composite, was prepared for Orange II removing with chitosan as raw material, sodium tripolyphosphate as cross-linking agent. The composite was carefully characterized by SEM, EDS, FT-IR and XPS. The influence of crosslinking conditions, dosage, pH, initial concentration, contacting time and temperature on adsorption were tested through batch adsorption experiments. CTS-STPP-MS adsorption process was exothermic, spontaneous and agreed with Sips isotherm model accompanying the maximum adsorption capacity as 948 mg∙g-1 (pH = 3). Notably, the adsorption performance was outstanding for high concentration solutions, with a removal rate of 97 % in up to 2000 mg∙L-1 OII solution (100 mg sorbent dosage, 50 mL OII solution, pH = 3, 289.15 K). In addition, the adsorption efficiency yet remained 97.85 % after 5 repeated adsorption-desorption cycles. The driving force of adsorption was attributed to electrostatic attraction and hydrogen bonds which was proved by adsorption results coupled with XPS. Owing to the excellent properties of high-effective, environmental-friendly, easy to separate and regenerable, CTS-STPP-MS composite turned out to be a promising adsorbent in contamination treatment.

Adsorption Behavior and Kinetics of 1,4-Dioxane by Carbon Aerogel

1,4-dioxane is a potential carcinogen in water and is difficult to deal with due to its robust cycloether bond and complete miscibility with water. To remove 1,4-dioxane in an economically viable and environmentally friendly way, a series of carbon aerogels were synthesized as adsorbents for 1,4-dioxane. The experiment results showed that adsorption performances were closely related to the preparation conditions of carbon aerogels, such as the molar ratio, heating rate, pyrolysis temperature and residence time, which were carefully controlled. Scanning electron microscope analysis revealed the presence of a three-dimensional porous network structure in carbon aerogels. Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis results demonstrated an increase in specific surface area (673.89 m2/g) and total pore volume after carbonization, with an increase in mesoporous porosity and a decrease in microporosity. When considering each variable individually, the highest specific surface area of prepared carbon aerogels was achieved at a pyrolysis temperature of 800 °C, a holding time of 1 h, and a heating rate of 2 °C/min. Under optimal experimental conditions, the adsorption removal of 1,4-dioxane by carbon aerogels exceeded 95%, following quasi-second-order kinetics and Langmuir isothermal adsorption isotherms, indicating that monolayer adsorption on the surface of carbon aerogels occurred. The maximum adsorption capacity obtained was 67.28 mg/g at a temperature of 318 K, which was attributed to the presence of a large proportion of mesopores and abundant micropores simultaneously in carbon aerogels. Furthermore, with the interference of chlorinated solvents such as trichloroethylene (TCE), the removal efficiency of 1,4-dioxane had no obvious inhibition effect. Regeneration experiments showed that after five continuous cycles, the carbon aerogels still kept a comparable adsorption capacity, which illustrates its potential application in 1,4-dioxane-polluted water purification.

Current issues and potential solutions for the electrospinning of major polysaccharides and proteins: A review

Biopolymers, especially polysaccharides and proteins, are the promising green replacement for petroleum based polymers. Due to their innate properties, they are effectively used in biomedical applications, especially tissue engineering, wound healing, and drug delivery. The fibrous morphology of biopolymers is essentially required for the effectiveness in these biomedical applications. Electrospinning (ES) is the most advanced and robust method to fabricate nanofibers (NFs) and provides a complete solution to the conventional methods issues. However, the major issues regarding fabricating polysaccharides and protein nanofibers using ES include poor electrospinnability, lack of desired fundamental properties for a specific application by a single biopolymer, and insolubility among common solvents. The current review provides the main strategies for effective electrospinning of the major biopolymers. The key strategies include blending major biopolymers with suitable biopolymers and optimizing the solvent system. A systematic literature review was done to provide the optimized solvent system of the major biopolymers along with their best possible biopolymeric blend for ES. The review also highlights the fundamental issues with the commercialization of ES based biomedical products and provides future directions to improve the fabrication of biopolymeric nanofibers.

Modified alginate materials for wastewater treatment: Application prospects

Sodium alginate is a natural macromolecule widely used because of its abundance, low cost of acquisition, and rich hydroxyl and carboxyl groups in the matrix. The physical modification of sodium alginate can be made by blending it with polymer materials. The so-yielded alginate complex is commonly unstable in an aqueous environment due to alginate backbones' high hydrophilicity. The chemical modification can remove its hydrophilic groups and introduce special functional groups or polymers onto the alginate backbones to provide excess reaction sites for specific reactions and effective complexation sites for accommodating antibiotics, dyes, heavy metal ions, and radioactive elements. Sodium alginate has been used in water treatment engineering under revised modification protocols. This article also reviews the latest modification protocols for sodium alginate and outlines the novel application of the modified materials. The limitations of modified sodium alginate materials are described, and research prospects are put forward.

Facile fabrication of Artemisia sphaerocephala krasch gum hydrogels by radiation induced cross-linking polymerization and enhanced ultrahigh adsorption for methylene blue

Although Artemisia sphaerocephala krasch gum (ASKG) has attracted growing attention in the field of medical engineering and food industries, however, there are few studies on the gelation of ASKG. In this paper, acrylic acid modified ASKG hydrogels were prepared by radiation induced grafting, cross-linking and polymerization technique for the first time. The semi-IPN structure was prepared by the cross-linked ASKG network and poly-AAc dispersed within the network. The effects of the adsorbed dose on the swelling ratio and gel fraction were investigated. The different acrylic acid content modified ASKG hydrogels (ASKGAAc1 and ASKGAAc2) for methyl blue (MB) adsorption were investigated, and the ASKG hydrogels was also studied for comparison. The influence of pH, contact time, initial concentration, temperature, ion strength on MB adsorption were tested. The results showed that acrylic acid can promote the formation of hydrogel and greatly enhanced the adsorption of ASKG. The adsorption isotherms were well obeyed the Langmuir model, and the maximum adsorption capacity for MB of ASKG, ASKGAAc1 and ASKGAAc2 were 571.43, 1517.8 and 1654.9 mg/g, respectively. Moreover, the MB adsorption by ASKG based hydrogels was exothermic, spontaneous, and more favorable at lower temperature. Furthermore, the adsorption-desorption experiments demonstrated a good reusability of these hydrogels.

Enhanced dye adsorption with conductive polyaniline doped chitosan nanofibrous membranes

Polyaniline is widely used in the field of electrochemistry due to its excellent electrical conductivity. However, its effectiveness and mechanism of enhancing adsorption property are unclear. Herein, chitosan/polyaniline nanofibrous composite membranes with average diameter ranging from 200 to 300 nm were fabricated by electrospinning technology. The as-prepared nanofibrous membranes exhibited significantly improved adsorption capacity of 814.9 mg/g and 618.0 mg/g towards acid blue 113 and reactive orange dyes, which were 121.8 % and 99.4 % higher than that of pure chitosan membrane. The doped polyaniline promoted the dye transfer rate and capacity due to the enhanced conductivity of the composite membrane. Kinetic data showed that chemisorption was the rate-limiting step, and thermodynamic data indicated the adsorption of the two anionic dyes was spontaneous monolayer adsorption. This study provides a feasible strategy to introduce conductive polymer into adsorbent to construct high performance adsorbents for wastewater treatment.

Simple synthesis of chitosan/alginate/graphene oxide/UiO-67 amphoteric aerogels: Characterization, adsorption mechanism and application for removal of cationic and anionic dyes from complex dye media

A chitosan/alginate/graphene oxide/UiO-67 (CS/SA/GO/UiO-67) amphoteric aerogel was synthesized successfully. A series of characterization experiments of CS/SA/GO/UiO-67 amphoteric aerogel was performed by SEM, EDS, FT-IR, TGA, XRD, BET, and zeta potential. The competitive adsorption properties of different adsorbents for complex dyes wastewater (MB and CR) at room temperature (298 K) were compared. Langmuir isotherm model predicted that the maximum adsorption quantity of CS/SA/GO/UiO-67 for CR and MB was 1091.61 and 1313.95 mg/g, respectively. The optimum pH values of CS/SA/GO/UiO-67 for the adsorption of CR and MB were 5 and 10, respectively. The kinetic analysis showed that the adsorption of MB and CR on CS/SA/GO/UiO-67 was more suitable for the pseudo-second-order and pseudo-first-order kinetic model, respectively. The isotherm study revealed that the adsorption of MB and CR was consistent with the Langmuir isotherm model. The thermodynamic study demonstrated that the adsorption process of MB and CR was exothermic and spontaneous. FT-IR analysis and zeta potential characterization experiments revealed that the adsorption mechanism of MB and CR on CS/SA/GO/UiO-67 depended on π-π bond, hydrogen bond, and electrostatic attraction. Repeatable experiments showed that the removal rates of MB and CR of CS/SA/GO/UiO-67 after six cycles of adsorption were 67.19 and 60.82 %, respectively.

Dual-functional marine algal carbon-based materials with highly efficient dye removal and disinfection control

The design and simple, green preparation of dual-functional materials for the decontamination of both hazardous dyes and pathogenic microorganisms from wastewater remain challenging currently. Herein, a promising marine algal carbon-based material (named C-SA/SP) with both highly efficient dye adsorptive and antibacterial properties was fabricated based on the incorporation of sodium alginate and a low dose of silver phosphate via a facile and eco-friendly approach. The structure, removal of malachite green (MG) and congo red (CR), and their antibacterial performance were studied, and the adsorption mechanism was further interpreted by the statistical physics models, besides the classic models. The results show that the maximum simulated adsorption capacity for MG reached 2798.27 mg/g, and its minimal inhibit concentration for Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) was 0.4 mg/mL and 0.2 mg/mL, respectively. The mechanistic study suggests that silver phosphate exerted the effects of catalytic carbon formation and pore formation, while reducing the electronegativity of the material as well, thus improving its dye adsorptive performance. Moreover, the MG adsorption onto C-SA/SP showed vertical orientation and a multi-molecular way, and its adsorption sites were involved in the adsorption process with the increase of temperature. Overall, the study indicates that the as-made dual-functional materials have good applied prospects for water remediation.

Electrospinning Novel Sodium Alginate/MXene Nanofiber Membranes for Effective Adsorption of Methylene Blue

Understanding how to develop highly efficient and robust adsorbents for the removal of organic dyes in wastewater is crucial in the face of the rapid development of industrialization. Herein, d-Ti₃C₂T_x nanosheets (MXene) were combined with sodium alginate (SA), followed by electrospinning and successive Ca²⁺-mediated crosslinking, giving rise to a series of SA/MXene nanofiber membranes (NMs). The effects of the MXene content of the NMs on the adsorption performance for methylene blue (MB) were investigated systemically. Under the optimum MXene content of 0.74 wt.%, SA/MXene NMs possessed an MB adsorption capacity of 440 mg/g, which is much higher than SA/MXene beads with the same MXene content, pristine MXene, or electrospinning SA NMs. Furthermore, the optimum SA/MXene NMs showed excellent reusability. After the adsorbent was reused ten times, both the MB adsorption capacity and removal rate could remain at 95% of the levels found in the fresh samples, which indicates that the electrospinning technique has great potential for developing biomass-based adsorbents with high efficiency.

Electrospun Nanofiber Membrane: An Efficient and Environmentally Friendly Material for the Removal of Metals and Dyes

With the rapid development of nanotechnology, electrospun nanofiber membranes (ENM) application and preparation methods have attracted attention. With many advantages such as high specific surface area, obvious interconnected structure, and high porosity, ENM has been widely used in many fields, especially in water treatment, with more advantages. ENM solves the shortcomings of traditional means, such as low efficiency, high energy consumption, and difficulty in recycling, and it is suitable for recycling and treatment of industrial wastewater. This review begins with a description of electrospinning technology, describing the structure, preparation methods, and factors of common ENMs. At the same time, the removal of heavy metal ions and dyes by ENMs is introduced. The mechanism of ENM adsorption on heavy metal ions and dyes is chelation or electrostatic attraction, which has excellent adsorption and filtration ability for heavy metal ions and dyes, and the adsorption capacity of ENMs for heavy metal ions and dyes can be improved by increasing the metal chelation sites. Therefore, this technology and mechanism can be exploited to develop new, better, and more effective separation methods for the removal of harmful pollutants to cope with the gradually increasing water scarcity and pollution. Finally, it is hoped that this review will provide some guidance and direction for research on wastewater treatment and industrial production.

Effective adsorption of Orange G dye using chitosan cross-linked by glutaraldehyde and reinforced with quartz sand

In this study, quartz sand (QS) incorporated into a crosslinked chitosan-glutaraldehyde matrix (QS@Ch-Glu) was prepared and employed as an efficient adsorbent for the elimination of Orange G (OG) dye from water. The sorption process is adequately described by the pseudo-second order kinetic model and the Langmuir isotherm model with maximum adsorption capacities of 172.65, 188.18, and 206.65mg/g at 25, 35, and 45 °C, respectively. A statistical physics model was adopted to elucidate the adsorption mechanism of OG on QS@Ch-Glu. Calculated thermodynamic factors revealed that the adsorption of OG is endothermic, spontaneous, and occurs via physical interactions. Overall, the proposed adsorption mechanism was based on electrostatic attractions, n-π stacking interaction, hydrogen bonding interaction, and Yoshida hydrogen bonding. The adsorption rate of QS@Ch-Glu was still above 95 % even after 6 cycles of adsorption and desorption. Furthermore, QS@Ch-Glu demonstrated high efficiency in real water samples. All these findings demonstrate that QS@Ch-Glu is qualified for practical applications.

High performance, cost-effective and ecofriendly flocculant synthesized by grafting carboxymethyl cellulose and alginate with itaconic acid

Natural polymer flocculant possesses an exciting prospect in water treatment due to its non-toxicity, wide source, low cost and biodegradability. In this work, we have successfully synthesized the anionic terpolymer of carboxymethyl cellulose-itaconic acid‑sodium alginate (CIS) by microwave-assisted copolymerization. By studying the flocculation properties towards cationic dye of crystal violet (CV), the optimum synthesis conditions were determined. The maximum removal rate of 100 mg/L CV simulated wastewater was 92.2 % with CIS concentration of 30 mg/L. The flocculation kinetic results showed the rapid dye removal rate and the dye decolorization ratio of 89.8 % could be obtained at 75 s. Moreover, the CIS flocculant showed excellent flocculation effects in ambient pH of 4-10, flocculation temperature of 10-40 °C, and various inorganic salts. In general, the anionic CIS flocculant shows excellent cost effectiveness, where the predicted operation cost of as-prepared CIS is about 60 % of conventional polyacrylamide flocculant. It also has the advantages of excellent ecofriendliness and rich raw material source, indicative its potential applications of wastewater treatment.

Chitosan-based dual network composite hydrogel for efficient adsorption of methylene blue dye

With the rapid development of the textile industry, a large amount of dyeing wastewater discharge has caused great harm to the ecological environment. In this work, a dual-network, composite hydrogel adsorbent with excellent mechanical properties, good reusability, and large adsorption capacity was prepared by introducing chitosan cross-linked polyvinylamine into the N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide cross-linked polyacrylic acid network. The dual cross-linking network gave the hydrogel excellent mechanical properties with maximum tensile stress and strain up to 1.9 MPa and 920 %. The adsorption capacity of methylene blue on hydrogel was up to 596.14 mg/g. In addition, the prepared hydrogel exhibited good reusability, and their adsorption efficiency remained above 85 % in five consecutive cycles. The adsorption behavior was well fitted by Pseudo-second-order kinetics and the Langmuir equation, indicating that the hydrogel was chemisorbed to the dye as a monolayer. The adsorption mechanism analysis showed that the electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonding between the functional groups of the hydrogels and methylene blue molecules contributed to the good adsorption capacity. Overall, the synthesized composite hydrogels could be used as an efficient adsorbent for the removal of methylene blue dye, particularly from textile industry wastewater.

Explorations on efficient extraction of uranium with porous coal fly ash aerogels

In order to explore a suitable uranium adsorbent with the advantages of low-cost, recyclability and high efficiency, porous coal fly ash aerogels with different size of coal fly ash were synthesized. Among them, PCFAA-1250 (prepared with 1250 mesh coal fly ash (CFA)) showed better adsorption performance and the maximum adsorption efficiency even approached 96.5% (C₀ = 10 mg L^-1, m/V = 1.0 g L^-1, T = 298 K, t = 24 h and pH = 3.0), which was higher than most of previous adsorbents. Langmuir and pseudo-second-order models were more likely to be used to determine the removal behavior of uranium on PCFAA, illustrating that the adsorption reaction was uniform chemisorption. Meanwhile, the adsorption process on PCFAA was spontaneous. Notably, the desorption efficiencies of all of PCFAA were more than 80% after five cycles, which suggested that PCFAA possessed good recyclability, especially PCFAA-1250. Besides, the adsorption mechanism was further revealed via XPS and the uranium ions were immobilized on the surface of adsorbents through complexation. Based on above conclusions, it could be concluded that PCFAA-1250 had the potential to be a candidate for the extraction of uranium from wastewater.

Recent Progress in Electrospun Polyacrylonitrile Nanofiber-Based Wound Dressing

Bleeding control plays a very important role in worldwide healthcare, which also promotes research and development of wound dressings. The wound healing process involves four stages of hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation and remodeling, which is a complex process, and wound dressings play a huge role in it. Electrospinning technology is simple to operate. Electrospun nanofibers have a high specific surface area, high porosity, high oxygen permeability, and excellent mechanical properties, which show great utilization value in the manufacture of wound dressings. As one of the most popular reactive and functional synthetic polymers, polyacrylonitrile (PAN) is frequently explored to create nanofibers for a wide variety of applications. In recent years, researchers have invested in the application of PAN nanofibers in wound dressings. Research on spun nanofibers is reviewed, and future development directions and prospects of electrospun PAN nanofibers for wound dressings are proposed.

Adsorption of dyes methyl violet and malachite green from aqueous solution on multi-step modified rice husk powder in single and binary systems: Characterization, adsorption behavior and physical interpretations

A novel modified rice husk (MRH) has been prepared for removing cationic dyes in both single system and binary system. SEM-EDS, FT-IR, XRD and XPS were used to characterize the physical and chemical properties of MRH. It showed that the maximum adsorption capacity of MRH for methyl violet (MV) and malachite green (MG) in single system was 154.49 and 996.97 mg g^-1, while in binary system was 530.94 and 408.58 mg g^-1, respectively. The experimental results showed that the pseudo-second-order kinetic model was better to describe the kinetic behavior of MV and MG adsorption. By using double layer adsorption model, we found that the n_D for MV adsorption were 2.52, 2.65 and 3.34 at 298, 308 and 318 K, respectively, and the n_D for MG adsorption were 4.59, 4.85 and 4.30, respectively. These results illustrated that multiple dye molecules were adsorbed on one adsorption site in non-parallel direction, indicating that the adsorption of dyes is multi-molecular mechanism. Furthermore, synergistic and antagonistic adsorption might be existed simultaneously in binary system. In summary, MRH has been shown well adsorption properties and reusability and our finding might provide a new idea for developing low-cost, efficient and reusable adsorbent to remove dyes from wastewater.

Electrospun molecularly imprinted sodium alginate/polyethylene oxide nanofibrous membranes for selective adsorption of methylene blue

Molecular imprinting technique is an efficient method to improve the selective adsorption capacity for the target pollutant. In this study, sodium alginate/polyethylene oxide molecularly imprinted nanofibrous membrane (SA/PEO-MINM) with average diameter of 185 ± 20 nm was successfully synthesized by electrospinning for selective adsorption of methylene blue (MB). Benefiting from the molecular imprinted technology, the adsorption amount of SA/PEO-MINM for MB was increased by about 65%, significantly higher than the non-imprinted membrane. Results showed that the adsorption equilibrium could be well fitted with Langmuir isotherm model and the maximum adsorption capacity towards MB was 3186.7 mg/g. Kinetic experiments well complied with the Pseudo second order model. Reusability studies indicated that the removal efficiency of MB could maintain 93% of the original adsorption capacity after four consecutive adsorption/desorption cycles. More importantly, the SA/PEO-MINM with high surface area and specific adsorption recognition sites showed excellent selective adsorption capacity in the adsorption experiment of MB and methylene orange mixed dye solution. In general, the SA/PEO-MINM can be successfully applied for the selective removal of MB from dye wastewater.

Optimized Clarification Technology of Bayberry Juice by Chitosan/Sodium Alginate and Changes in Quality Characteristics during Clarification

In this study, a novel method to clarify bayberry juice with composite clarifiers, chitosan and sodium alginate, has been designed. The optimal conditions were as follows: using chitosan 0.05 g/L first and then sodium alginate 0.05 g/L as composite clarifiers, standing for 2 h at 25 °C. The transmittance increased from 0.08 to 91.2% after treating by composite clarifiers, which was significantly higher than using chitosan (44.29%) and sodium alginate (38.46%) alone. It was also found that sedimentation time of juice treated by composite clarifiers was about 60% shorter than using single clarifiers. Meanwhile, the reduction of anthocyanin in juice was 9.16% for composite clarifiers treatment, being less than that for the single sodium alginate and previous related researches. In addition, the color and aroma of bayberry juice treated by composite clarifiers were improved. Juice treated by composite clarifiers had the highest L* value with 52.48 and looked more attractive. The present research revealed that content of beta-damascenone and dihydro-5-pentyl-2(3H)-furanone increased after treatment with composite clarifiers which contributed more to the pleasant aroma. Overall, the developed method improved the clarification effect and sensory quality, and reduced the sedimentation time, which may be promising in the production of clear bayberry juice.