A polyurethane foam membrane filled with double cross-linked chitosan/carboxymethyl cellulose gel and decorated with ZSM-5 nano zeolite: Simultaneous dye removal

A novel bio-based polyurethane foam was fabricated using double cross-linked chitosan/carboxymethyl cellulose gel, filled with ZSM-5 nano zeolite, and hot-pressed into the membrane. The prepared foam membrane was characterized using FESEM, FTIR, BET, TGA, and pHZPC analyses and then used for continuous dye removal. The results modification of polyurethane foam with chitosan/carboxymethyl cellulose gel and ZSM-5 nano zeolite would increase the retention ability of positive cationic methylene blue. Also, the foam could simultaneously remove methyl orange, eriochrome black T, and methylene blue from the binary and trinary solutions but could effectively be used to selectively removal methylene blue. In addition, the dye removal ability at the breakthrough was enhanced with decreasing flow rate, and increasing bed height, pH, initial dye concentration, and nano zeolite content in the foam. To describe the breakthrough curves different models were utilized which best fits were obtained with Modified Dose-Response as compared to Thomas, Adams & Bohart, Yoon-Nelson, and Wolborska models.