PHA-Based Nanocomposite Materials for Textile Dye Wastewater Treatment

4 PHA-Based Nanocomposite Materials for Textile Dye Wastewater Treatment 

Besides the fabrication of PHA films for oil blotting application, the hydrophobic property of PHA has also led to the use of this material for dye removal via adsorption in textile wastewater treatment. The potential application of PHA films as facial oil adsorbing material suggested that PHA films can also be used to adsorb other hydrophobic compounds. Many textile dyes are hydrophobic and may readily adsorb onto PHA films. Therefore, PHA films maybe used to remove textile dyes from wastewater. Solvent-cast P(3HB) films were found to remove approximately 38 % of color from textile dye wastewater. Electrospun PHA films may show better ability in adsorbing hydrophobic textile dyes. 

Initial experiments to determine the suitable electrospinning parameters were carried out using P(3HB) alone in CHCI3 as the sole solvent. The morphology of films electrospun from different solution concentrations are shown in Fig. 6.2. 

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