Comparative study of brine treatment using a functionalized nanofibre and an ion exchange resin

Abstract

In this study, comparative sorption studies of the major metal ions (Mg2+, Ca2+, K+ and Na+) in the brine wastewater were performed on hydrophilic materials (PAN nanofibre, PAN+TiO2 nanofibre, PAN+ZEOLITE nanofibre) and Purolite S950 resin to investigate their uptake performances. For this purpose, PAN nanofibre was electrospun and subsequently doped with 3 wt% each of titanium dioxide and zeolite respectively, in controlled experimental conditions in order to improve its performance. This was followed by the characterization of the respective hydrophilic materials (PAN, PAN+TiO2 and PAN+ZEOLITE nanofibres) using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR); Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD). SEM showed that the incorporation of titanium dioxide or zeolite into the PAN structure made the surface rougher than that of the ordinary PAN nanofibre and FT-IR revealed the peaks belonging to titanium dioxide and zeolite respectively, showing the inorganic materials are within the PAN structure. The XRD analysis complemented the FT-IR of the nanofibres by revealing the peaks characteristic of titanium dioxide and zeolite are present on the PAN structure.