Remediation of contaminated water using cellulose acetate membrane hybrid by sunflower seed shell–activated carbon

Abstract

In this study, newly created hybrid cellulose acetate (CA) membranes were prepared using the phase inversion technique. Activated carbon derived from Helianthus annuus (sunflower) seed shells (SFAC) were immersed in CA polymer casting solution, and the produced membranes were used to treat contaminated water. Phosphoric acid was utilized as an activating agent with a ratio of 3:1 (wt.) for preparing SFAC7, SFAC8, and SFAC9 activated carbons with various carbonization temperatures (700, 800, and 900°C, respectively). By using SEM, TEM, XRD, BET, and FTIR, the SFAC and CA membranes were characterized. The SFAC9 sample has the highest surface area SBET (786.62 m2/g), total pore volume VT (0.7694 mL/g), and pore radius r– (4.0026 nm). The effects of various starting concentrations (5–20 mg/L), SFAC dose (0.1–0.5), pH (2–12), and contact time (0.5–24 h) conditions were investigated. The outcomes showed that the CA (SFAC9 0.1%) membrane performed better than other membranes in removing crystal violet (CV) dye, with an 84.67% removal rate under ideal environmental circumstances. The dye decolorization onto the CA (SFAC9 0.1%) membrane was fitted with various adsorption isotherms using the Langmuir > Tempkin > Freundlich model. Additionally, the kinetics studies showed pseudo-second-order, which suggests that chemisorption occurred.