فاطمه علي پور

Industrial wastewater contains a significant amount of oil and organic pollutants, posing a threat to living organisms and the environment. Oil spills during production, consumption, or transportation can have detrimental effects on the ecosystem and human health. Therefore, the removal of these pollutants is a priority. This thesis focuses on the preparation of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) foam through the electrospinning method for the removal of organic pollutants from water. In this study, a 15% weight/weight polyacrylonitrile membrane was initially prepared in dimethylformamide and then converted into foam using a 0.2 molar sodium borohydride solution. To impart hydrophobic properties and cross-linking in the foam, a 5% vinyl trimethoxy silane solution was utilized. Characterization tests, including FE-SEM, AFM, BET, FT-IR, XRD, and contact angle measurement, were conducted to eva‎luate the properties of the foam. The contact angle of water was measured to be 146°, confirming the hydrophobic treatment of the prepared foam. Additionally, the porosity of the modified foam was found to be 80%, and its density was 0.035 g/cm3. The resulting foam was employed for the removal of used and fresh motor oil, sunflower oil, crude oil, diesel, and hexadecane. Factors affecting the adsorption process were optimized. The best performance of the foam in the motor oil adsorption process was achieved at a pH = 7, a temperature of 50°C, and in the presence of calcium chloride salt. The foam's capacity to adsorb motor oil was determined to be 14 g/g in a 20-second period. According to the obtained results, the maximum adsorption capacity for the targeted compounds was estimated to be between 5.8-10 g/g. Therefore, it can be concluded that the prepared foam is applicable for various hydrocarbon pollutants. The relative standard deviation of the obtained data was reported to be 10%, indicating a desirable repeatability of the process. The analysis of kinetic models and adsorption isotherms revealed that the adsorption of motor oil onto the foam follows a pseudo-second-order kinetic model and adheres to the Freundlich adsorption isotherm.

آلاينده آلي , فوم پليمري , الكتروريسي , فوم آب‌گريز , جاذب

Organic pollutant , Polymeric foam , Electrospinning , Hydrophobic foam , Adsorbent

Fatemeh Alipour

Afsaneh Mollahoseini