Micellar-enhanced ultrafiltration for removal of reactive dyes from an aqueous solution

Micellar-enhanced ultrafiltration (MEUF) was studied to remove reactive dyes from aqueous solution. Two different types of reactive dyes, C.I Reactive Black 5 (RB5) and C.I Reactive Orange 16 (RO16) were tested. A cationic surfactant, cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) was used for the MEUF and its effectiveness was investigated. The effect of surfactant concentration and transmembrane pressure (TMP) was investigated. The result shows that the highest dye rejections for RB5 and RO16 dyes were 99.7% and 99.6% for 1.000 g/L CPC and 0.050 g/L dye concentration, respectively.

Micellar-enhanced ultrafiltration (MEUF) of RB5 and RO16 dyes in CPC solution using 10,000 thin-film composite membranes was studied over a feed CPC concentration ranging from 0.500 g/L to 1.000 g/L and pressure range of 300–400 kPa at a constant dye concentration of 0.050 g/L. The experiments were conducted under unstirred deadend ultrafiltration. The observed dye rejections and permeate flux characteristics of RB5 and RO16 dyes at different experimental conditions have been investigated and analyzed. As compared to ultrafiltration, MEUF gave better dye rejection but lower permeate flux. The reactive dyes were successfully removed from an aqueous solution by the MEUF process at a lower operating pressure and higher membrane MWCO. The maximum removal of dye rejection achieved for RB5 and RO16 dyes was 99.7% and 99.6% at CPC concentration of 1.000 g/L and operating pressure of 300 kPa.