Master's Project (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2020Textile manufacturers produce large amounts of wastewater every year as a result of global demand. Waste dyes are highly resilient against physical processes, insoluble in water, and resistant to detergents. Carcinogenic and mutagenic effects are linked to these dyes, making them a large health hazard. Current dye removal methods are highly complex and inefficient. Thus, a new means of removing textile dyes from wastewater is needed. Nanomaterials are one such possibility, since they exhibit traits unique from bulk materials. One key trait is their surface area to volume ratio. Since the materials are so small, they’re almost able to be considered two dimensional in certain instances. A high surface area is closely linked to adsorption potential, making nanomaterials a promising candidate for dye removal. This project has two portions: material synthesis and adsorption testing. Material synthesis sets up the adsorption testing phase by fabricating enough nanomaterials for testing. The nanomaterials used for this project are MIL-53 (Al) and graphene oxide (GO). MIL-53 (Al) and GO were chosen since they exhibit good stability in water and effective geometrical structures for water filtration. Synthesized composites of the two materials varying in mass of GO will be tested as well. Adsorption testing uses slightly acidic (pH 5.6) methyl blue and methyl orange solutions of varying parts per million (PPM) concentrations. The tests examine effects of initial concentration, duration of exposure, and temperature effects on adsorption potential. Nanomaterials reached equilibrium adsorption after 12 hours of mixing. Most materials efficiently removed up to 90% or greater of dye particles in solutions with initial concentrations of 100 PPM for both dye colors. Increased temperatures reduced adsorption potential of nearly all materials tested for both dye colors
