Adsorptive removal of toluenediamine from aqueous solution by polysulfone/graphene oxide/TiO2 membrane functionalized by allylamine

Wastewater effluent of the petrochemical plant for isocyanate and polyurethane derivatives contains the various harmful compounds especially aromatic amines. The aim of this study is to remove 2,4-diaminotoluene by polysulfone membranes blended with the modified GO/TiO2 nanocomposite. In this work, GO/TiO2 nanocomposite was functionalized by immobilization of (3-mercaptopropyl) trimethoxysilane and polymerization of allylamine over the nanocomposite surface. The nanocomposite was blended by polysulfone to form mixed matrix membrane by phase inversion method. Adsorption of 2,4-diaminotoluene in the various conditions was investigated in a batch sorption method. According to the results, the best removal efficiency was obtained at pH of 4 because of the negative charge on the external surface of adsorptive membranes. Based on the results from the Lineweaver-Burke equation, the adsorptive membranes follow the Langmuir isotherm model. The membranes showed a significant value for qm in comparison of the adsorptive filters similarly used before. Maximum qm is 35.09 mg/g for the M0.03 membrane and 41.84 mg/g for the M0.12 membrane at acidic pH, respectively.