Preparation of novel polyurethane/activated carbon/cellulose nano-whisker nanocomposite film as an efficient adsorbent for the removal of methylene blue and basic violet 16 dyes from wastewater

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of a porous and flexible polyurethane (PU)-based nanocomposite consists activated carbon (AC) and cellulose nano-whisker (CNW) on adsorption of methylene blue (MB) and basic violet16 (BV16) as two industrial dyes. The morphology, hydrophilicity, chemical structure, and mechanical properties of the fabricated nanocomposite films were investigated using FE-SEM, water contact angle, ATR-FTIR and tensile tests respectively. The water contact angle tests exhibited that the addition of 1.0 wt % CNW resulted in the highest hydrophilicity in the nanocomposite film. The results of the adsorption tests showed that the nanocomposites containing 1.0 wt% AC have the best performance in the adsorption of dyes. In addition, the effect of parameters such as contact time, pH, adsorbent dosage, and temperature on the removal efficiency of dyes was investigated. It was found that the adsorption mechanism of MB and BV16 dyes by the PU nanocomposite can occur as a combination of chemical and physical adsorption. Kinetic and isotherm studies of the adsorption also showed that the adsorption of MB and BV16 dyes on the PU/AC/CNW nanocomposite follows the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the Freundlich isotherm. The maximum adsorption capacity (qm) of 71.4 mgg  1 for BV16 dye and 67.1 mgg  1 for MB dye showed that the PU/AC/CNW nanocomposite can be used as an efficient adsorbent for adsorption of BV16 and MB dyes.