New Technology: New Polymer Can Be Used To Remove Dyes In Wastewater And Reuse

Dye is one of the main pollutants in the wastewater from textile industry and other industries. A newly developed synthetic polymer can remove the dye from water, and it can be cleaned up and reused to treat more wastewater.

The nitrogen rich, water-insoluble polymer, known as polycarbimide, was created by a team at North Carolina State University.

In laboratory tests, the polymer was first dissolved in a solvent and then mixed into water samples contaminated with 20 different types of acid dyes commonly used in the textile industry. Based on factors such as acidity and surface area of dye molecules, the polymer was able to successfully remove all dyes from 16 samples evaluated by eye and UV Vis spectroscopy.

The polymer works by combining with dye molecules and then rising to the top of the polymer / water solution, where a separate layer (like oil on water surface) is formed. Now, the dye can be left out of the container without water. Professor januka budhathoki uprety, chief scientist, said that since both polymers and solvents are insoluble in water, traces of both remain in the water.

By adjusting the pH value of the poured polymer containing dye, it is possible to release dye molecules from the polymer within minutes. The polymer can then be reused in subsequent wastewater treatment.

Budhathoki uprety and his colleagues now plan to create other versions of polymers that will work on a wider variety of dyes. They also hope to incorporate this polymer into solid filtration media.

"We're trying to develop materials that can do the same thing without using polymers in the solution phase. If you have dye leaks, you don't want to have to use flammable solutions - you want a solid material that's easier to handle," she said

The paper on this study was recently published in ACS applied polymer materials.