Removal of anionic azo dyes from aqueous solutions by quaternary ammonium salt-functionalized fibers with adjustable surface microenvironments

Abstract Adsorption is one of the most effective methods to remove organic pollutants from water. A series of functionalized fiber adsorbents with cationic adsorption sites and different hydrophobic alkyl chains have been prepared by immobilizing quaternary ammonium salts (QASs) on polyacrylonitrile fiber (PANF). The hydrophobicities of these QAS-functionalized fibers were evaluated by water uptake and contact angle analysis. These fibers were employed to remove anionic azo dyes (methyl orange, alizarin yellow R and methyl red from water. The fiber with a twelve-carbon alkyl chain (designated PANQAS-12F) had the highest adsorption capacity for MO and the maximum adsorption capacity (Qe) is 1.82 mmol g-1. The PANQAS-12F dye adsorption process follows second-order kinetics and correlates with a Langmuir model. A possible adsorption mechanism that proposes electrostatic interactions as the primary interactive force and hydrophobic and weak hydrogen bonding interactions as secondary forces is presented. The QAS-functionalized fiber can be reused ten times while still maintaining a removal rate of 99% or higher. The QAS-functionalized fiber is also very suitable for continuous flow processes giving a MO removal rate of more than 90% for the treatment up to 1020 mL of MO-containing water. These QAS-functionalized fibers have very promising application potential.