A novel fixed-bed reactor design incorporating an electrospun PVA/chitosan nanofiber membrane

In this research, a novel fixed-bed reactor was designed with a nanofiber membrane composed of a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/chitosan nanofiber blend prepared using an electrospinning technique. The applied voltage, tip-collector distance, and solution flow rate of the electrospinning process were 18 kV, 14.5 cm, and 0.5 mLh(-1), respectively. Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) theory, scanning electron microscope (SEM), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) were employed to characterize and analyze the nanofiber membranes. Homogeneous electrospun nanofibers with an average diameter of 99.47 nm and surface area of 214.12 m(2) g(-1) were obtained. Adsorption experiments were carried out in a batch system to investigate the effect of different adsorption parameters such as pH, adsorbent dose, biomass dose, contact time, and temperature. The kinetic data, obtained at the optimal pH of 6, were analyzed by pseudo first-order and pseudo second-order kinetic models. Three isotherm models and thermodynamic parameters (Delta G degrees, Delta H degrees, and Delta S degrees) were applied to describe the equilibrium data of the metal ions adsorbed onto the PVA/chitosan nanofiber membrane. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.