Bacterial Cellulose-Polyaniline Porous Mat for Removal of Methyl Orange and Bacterial Pathogens from Potable Water

The present work establishes applicability of polyaniline coated bacterial cellulose (PANi@BC) porous mat for simultaneous removal of methyl orange (MO) dye and viable bacteria from potable water. The porous PANi@BC mat was synthesized by in-situ oxidative polymerization of aniline on the surface of bacterial cellulose (BC) fibres followed by lyophilisation. The adsorption efficiency of MO on PANi@BC adsorbent mat was investigated at neutral pH with respect to adsorbent (PANi@BC) dose, contact time, initial dye concentration and temperature. The adsorption of MO on polyaniline surface followed a pseudo-second-order kinetic profile (R-2 = 0.999). The monolayer adsorption capacities of MO, following Langmuir Isotherm model, were found to be 222, 271 and 293 (mg/g) at 293, 310 and 320 K, respectively at pH 7. PANi@BC mat also exhibited antibacterial activity against both Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli) bacteria. Our results showed that 50 mg of PANi@BC mat could kill 10(6) bacteria completely and bring around fourfold reduction in 10(8) bacterial load.