The Removal of Methyl Orange (MO) using Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)-based Polymer Inclusion Membrane (PIMs)

In this study, the removal of an anionic dye (Methyl Orange; MO), which is carcinogenic and harmful to human health and environment were carried out from their aqueous solution using polymer inclusion membrane (PIMs) consisting PVC as the base polymer, Aliquat 336 as carrier and tetrahydrofuran (THF) as the solvent. The composition of carrier, pH, initial dye concentration, stirring speed and temperature were varied to determine the optimum parameter of PVC-based PIM for MO removal within 24 hours. The transport of MO also was studied after the optimum conditions have been identified using sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and potassium chloride (KCI) as the receiving solution respectively. The prepared membranes have been characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) to detect the functional group present on the membrane. From the result, the optimum conditions of extraction study are PIM with PVC 20-Aliquat 336, pH 4, 10 ppm of initial dye concentration, stirring speed at 100 rpm and temperature at 25°C. The result show that PVC-based PIMs incorporated with Aliquat 336 demonstrated excellent extraction capabilities of MO from aqueous solution. The maximum removal efficiency under optimum condition is 99.61%. However, MO cannot be transported across the PVC PIM into the receiving solution. It can be concluded that NaOH and KCI is not suitable to be used as the receiving solutions. The FT-IR spectra show the presence of aliphatic hydrocarbon on the membrane surface which is functional group found in Aliquat 336, indicate the Aliquat 336 is a carrier in this experiment.