Adsorption of dye with carbon media supported on polyurethane open cell foam

[Display omitted] •Soft deposition of Carbon Media on commercial polyurethane open cell foam.•Easy-to-use carbon nanotube and/or activated charcoal for dye adsorption.•It is possible to regenerate these new filters by simple desorption. The use of a combined polydopamine polyurethane open cell foam (OCPUF@PDA − recently introduced in open literature) with carbon media, is for the first time used for the dye (methylene blue) adsorption in an aqueous solution. The carbon media used in this work is activated charcoal and/or carbon nanotubes that are supported on the foam’s surface. These new tools obtained (OCPUF@PDA@AC and OCPUF@PDA@CNT) are evaluated and compared to OCPUF@PDA and to the non-supported carbon media. The adsorption efficiency (245mgMB/gcarbon for OCPUF@PDA@AC versus 10mgMB/gPDA for OCPUF@PDA) and easy-to-use of these new tools, open real perspective in wastewater treatment.