Removal of nickel(II) ions, low-level pollutants, and total bacterial colony count from wastewater by composite nanofiber film

This study elaborates on the important role of nanofibers produced from polyacrylonitrile after reinforcement with iron nanoparticles (gamma-Fe2O3). The objective is to expand the applications of these fibers and combine their ability to remove nickel(II) from aqueous solutions with the ability to not only remove pollutants such as total suspended solids, Total Nitrogen (TN), Total Phosphor (TP), chemical oxygen demand, and cyanide but also kill the bacteria in wastewater. The absorption results for nickel(II) following the aqueous solution treatment were obtained by an atomic absorption spectrometer type (AAs-7000) and then, a spectrometer type (Hach DR2800) managed to obtain pollutant absorption results after treating wastewater samples. The results of adsorption kinetic parameters for nickel(II) proved that the rates of increase in the maximum absorption capacity ranged from 43.27 to 133.5 and from 74.63 to 178.571 mg/g when increasing the initial concentration (10-50 mg/L) for the first and second-order models. pH, contact time, electrical conductivity, and initial concentration represented good indicators of adsorption efficiency for nickel(II), and the high removal efficiency was 23.96% at a low initial concentration. Intensification of the reduction rate and TN:TP ratio appeared to be significant enough to increase the removal rate of the total bacteria by 90% in 8 h. (c) 2023 Sharif University of Technology. All rights reserved.