Hybrid Membranes Based on Clay-Polymer for Removing Methylene Blue from Water

Abstract

Water pollution is a serious environmental problem. Methylene blue is among the dyes that may exist in waste water. Adsorption is an effective process to remove dyes from contaminated water. Hybrid membranes based on clay-polymer; namely kaolin and polystyrene were prepared to absorb the present methylene blue in aqueous solution. These membranes were fired at 1000 °C to degrade polystyrene leaving cavities in the clay matrix with an expanded surface area and porous structure. The membranes were characterized via X-ray diffraction and Infrared spectroscopy. The morphological structure was investigated by using scanning electron microscopy. In this work, we are focusing on facile means represented in UV-Vis spectroscopy, to monitor the adsorption efficiency of the prepared membranes. From the results, the membrane loaded with 20 % polystyrene by weight showed the optimum performance in adsorbing methylene blue from water.