Development of cellulose acetate/metal-organic framework derived porous carbon adsorptive membrane for dye removal applications

Development of a molecularly imprinted membrane for selective, high-sensitive, and on-site detection of antibiotics in waters and drugs: Application for sulfamethoxazole

Sulfonamides are among the widespread bacterial antibiotics. Despite this, their quick emergence constitutes a serious problem for ecosystems and human health. Therefore, there is an increased interest in developing relevant detection method for antibiotics in different matrices. In this work, a straightforward, green, and cost-effective protocol was proposed for the preparation of a selective molecularly imprinted membrane (MIM) of sulfamethoxazole (SMX), a commonly used antibiotic. Thus, cellulose acetate was used as the functional polymer, while polyethylene glycol served as a pore-former. The developed MIM was successfully characterized through scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The MIM was used as a sensing platform in conjunction with a smartphone for optical readout, enabling on-site, selective, and highly sensitive detection of SMX. In this way, a satisfactory imprinting factor of around 3.6 and a limit of detection of 2 ng mL-1 were reached after applying response surface methodologies, including Box-Behnken and central composite designs. Besides, MIM demonstrated its applicability for the accurate and selective detection of SMX in river waters, wastewater, and drugs. Additionally, the MIM was shown to be a valuable sorbent in a solid-phase extraction protocol, employing a spin column setup that offered rapid and reproducible results. Furthermore, the developed sensing platform exhibited notable regeneration properties over multiple cycles and long shelf-life in different storage conditions. The newly developed methodology is of crucial importance to overcome the limitations of classical imprinting polymers. Furthermore, the smartphone-based platform was used to surpass the typically expensive and complicated methods of detection.

Optimization of Y and T-shaped microchannels for liquid-liquid extraction

Solvent extraction on a micro-scale has received much attention due to its advantages in recent years. The purpose of this research is to compare the inlet geometry of T and Y-shaped microchannels. In this research, solvent extraction of Crystal Violet (CV) was investigated using Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) extractor and hexane solvent in Y and T-shaped microchannels with lengths of 4, 6, and 8 cm. The effect of parameters such as inlet geometry, length of microchannels (4-8 cm), dye solution pH (3-11), flow rate (1-1.5 mL/h) and the concentration of CV (25-75 ppm) was investigated. The Results showed that under the same conditions, Y-shaped microchannel performance is better than T-shaped microchannel. pH of dye solution phase, flow rate, inlet CV concentration, and microchannel length were obtained as optimal conditions for extraction, 10.9, 1.1 mL/h, 46.4 ppm, and 7.6 cm, respectively, and the amount of extraction, in this case, was % 97/96 was obtained.

Cellulose/inorganic nanoparticles-based nano-biocomposite for abatement of water and wastewater pollutants

Nanostructured materials offer a significant role in wastewater treatment with diminished capital and operational expense, low dose, and pollutant selectivity. Specifically, the nanocomposites of cellulose with inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) have drawn a prodigious interest because of the extraordinary cellulose properties, high specific surface area, and pollutant selectivity of NPs. Integrating inorganic NPs with cellulose biopolymers for wastewater treatment is a promising advantage for inorganic NPs, such as colloidal stability, agglomeration prevention, and easy isolation of magnetic material after use. This article presents a comprehensive overview of water treatment approaches following wastewater remediation by green and environmentally friendly cellulose/inorganic nanoparticles-based bio-nanocomposites. The functionalization of cellulose, functionalization mechanism, and engineered hybrid materials were thoroughly discussed. Moreover, we also highlighted the purification of wastewater through the composites of cellulose/inorganic nanoparticles via adsorption, photocatalytic and antibacterial approach.

A recognition strategy combining effective boron affinity technology and surface imprinting to prepare highly selective and easily recyclable polymer membrane for separation of drug molecule

Cellulose acetate membrane (CAM) has become one of the most widely used membrane materials by virtue of stability and hydrophilicity. In this work, to achieve the aim of selective recognition and separation of drug molecule shikimic acid (SA), an effective recognition tactics was proposed by combining boron affinity technology with surface imprinting strategy based on cellulose acetate membrane with low price and biocompatibility. The supporting CAM material was prepared through the phase inversion technique by continuous adjustment of different factors including solvent type and kinds of pore-forming agents, and the optimal CAM with multistage structure and highly porosity was applied for the imprinting of SA. Then the imprinted polymer membrane (MIPs-CAM) was developed via boron affinity surface imprinting polymerization. Various methods (FT-IR, UV-vis, SEM, XPS, AFM and TGA) were used to characterize the structure, morphology, elemental composition, surface roughness and thermal property of the obtained membrane. The as-prepared MIPs-CAM showed homogeneous and abundant imprinted layer, good thermal stability. The batch adsorption results showed that the MIPs-CAM had fast adsorption kinetics, specific recognition ability, and the adsorption capacity could obtain 63.598 mg g^-1, which was two times higher than that of non-imprinted membrane (NIPs-CAM). The adsorption isotherms conformed to the Langmuir isotherm and the adsorption processes were spontaneous and endothermic. Additionally, the adsorption capacity of MIPs-CAM still reached 85% of the initial result after five cycles. The experimental results revealed that the molecularly imprinted membrane possessed the advantages of high selectivity and easy recovery compared with the traditional molecular imprinted polymers for SA separation. These results indicate that boron affinity MIPs-CAM with high performance will provide a promising platform for the separation and purification of other cis-diol drug molecules from environmental resources.

Cellulose acetate in fabrication of polymeric membranes: A review

Developing biodegradable polymers to fabricate filtration membranes is one of the main challenges of membrane science and technology. Cellulose acetate (CA) membranes, due to their excellent film-forming property, high chemical and mechanical stability, high hydrophilicity, eco-friendly, and suitable cost, are extensively used in water and wastewater treatment, gas separation, and energy generation purposes. The CA is one of the first materials used to fabricate filtration membranes. However, in the last decade, the possibility of modification of CA to improve permeability and stability has attracted the researcher's attention again. This review is focused on the properties of cellulose derivatives and especially CA membranes in the fabrication of polymeric separation membranes in various applications such as filtration, gas separation, adsorption, and ion exchange membranes. Firstly, a brief introduction of CA properties and used molecular weights in the fabrication of membranes will be presented. After that, different configurations of CA membranes will be outlined, and the performance of CA membranes in several applications and configurations as the main polymer and as an additive in the fabrication of other polymer-based membranes will be discussed.

Enhanced water flux and bacterial resistance in cellulose acetate membranes with quaternary ammoniumpropylated polysilsesquioxane

An enhanced water flux and anti-fouling nanocomposite ultrafiltration membrane based on quaternary ammoniumpropylated polysilsesquioxane (QAPS)/cellulose acetate (QAPS@CA) was fabricated by in situ sol-gel processing via phase inversion followed by quaternization with methyl iodide (CH₃I). Membrane characterizations were performed based on the contact angle, FTIR, SEM, and TGA properties. Membrane separation performance was assessed in terms of pure water flux, rejection, and fouling resistance. The 7%QAPS@CA nanocomposite membrane showed an increased wettability (46.6° water contact angle), water uptake (113%) and a high pure water permeability of ∼370 L m^-2 h^-1 bar^-1. Furthermore, the 7%QAPS@CA nanocomposite membrane exhibited excellent bactericidal properties (∼97.5% growth inhibition) against Escherichia coli (E. coli) compared to the bare CA membrane (0% growth inhibition). The 7%QAPS@CA nanocomposite membrane can be recommended for water treatment and biomedical applications.