PPy-NTs/C/TiO2/poly(ether sulfone) porous composite membrane: Efficient ultrafiltration of Evans blue dye from industrial wastewater

Developing a high-performance composite membrane with excellent flexibility in dye filtration remains a big challenge. Polypyrrole nanotubes (PPy-NTs), polypyrrole nanotubes/C (PPy-NTs/C), and polypyrrole nanotubes/C/TiO2(PPy-NTs/C/TiO2) modified porous poly(ether sulfone), assigned as (PPy-NTs/PES; PPy-NTs/C/PES; PPy-NTs/C/TiO2/PES) membranes, are prepared and employed in ultrafiltration of Evans blue anionic dye (EB) from industrial and municipal wastewater. X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared-attenuated total reflectance, and field emission scanning electron microscope were used to characterize the composite membranes. In the adsorption investigations, experiments were conducted under different factors, including temperature (25–45 °C), stirring time, solution pH (2–12), adsorbent dosage (1–5 g/L), and initial dye concentrations (10–50 mg/L), to establish the ideal conditions. According to the experiments, at pH = 7 and 25 °C, the elimination percentage of Evans blue (EB) anionic dye might reach up to 99 %. Additionally, many isotherm models, including Freundlich and Langmuir, were used. Based on the correlation coefficients, the Freundlish isotherm model was the most suitable model (R2 = 0.9974).