Effective removal of proteins and polysaccharides from biotreated wastewater by polyaniline composites

The proteins and polysaccharides are always remained in the effluent of biotreated process, which leads to further pollution for advanced treatment or aqueous environment. In this study, Fe3O4/polynailine composite (Fe3O4@PANI) was prepared by means of in situ surface polymerization, and was used as the adsorbent for removal of proteins and polysaccharides from biotreated wastewater. The removal rate of polysaccharide by PANI (69.43%) was higher than that by Fe3O4@PANI (61.33%), while the removal percentage of protein by Fe3O4@PANI (65.25%) was higher than that by original PANI (47.56%). The adsorption process was fitted well with the quasi-first-order kinetic and Langmuir isotherm models. Finally, it was determined that electrostatic attraction is the primary mechanism for the adsorption of proteins and polysaccharides by PANI-based materials.

Automated summary

In this study, Fe3O4@PANI composite was prepared and used as an adsorbent for the removal of proteins and polysaccharides from biotreated wastewater. The results showed that the composite had better adsorption performance than pure PANI. The adsorption process followed quasi-first-order kinetics and Langmuir isotherm models, and electrostatic attraction was identified as the primary mechanism.