Removal of COD, color, anions and heavy metals from cotton textile wastewater by using polyaniline and polypyrrole nanocomposites coated on rice husk ash

The aim of this research work is a new application of polypyrrole (PPy) and polyaniline (PAn) synthesized chemically in presence of ferric chloride and potassium iodate as an oxidant, coated on rice husk ash (RHA). The removal of heavy metals, anions, color and COD (Chemical oxygen demand) from Cotton textile wastewater investigated and compared when polyaniline, polypyrrole and their blends and nanocomposites with rice husk ash were used respectively. It was found that PPy/RHA and PAn/RHA can be used as an effective adsorbent in the removal of anions, heavy metals, color and COD from Cotton textile wastewater. Also, the products were investigated in terms of morphology and chemical structure with scanning electron microscopy and fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), respectively. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.