Preparation of PVA-chitosan Blend Nanofiber and Its Dye Removal Ability from Colored Wastewater

In this paper, poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)-chitosan blend nanofiber was prepared and its dye removal ability from colored wastewater was investigated. The characteristics of the adsorbent were studied using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Direct Red 80 (DR80), Direct Red 81 (DR81) and Reactive Red 180 (RR180) were used as anionic dyes. The effects of pH, contact time, adsorbent dosage and initial dye concentration on dye removal were studied. The kinetics and isotherm of dye removal follows pseudo-second order kinetics and the Langmuir isotherm, respectively. Desorption studies showed that adsorbent could be recovered and regenerated. The results show that PVA-chitosan blend nanofiber is a suitable adsorbent with high dye adsorption capacity from colored wastewater.