Electrospun nylon 6,6 membrane as a reusable nano-adsorbent for bisphenol A removal: Adsorption performance and mechanism

Abstract

Bisphenol A (BPA) is highly considered as an emerging contaminants (ECs) due to their endocrine disrupting and reproductive toxicant nature. It has been detected in drinking water sources in many countries. This study deals with the adsorptive removal of BPA using nylon 6,6 nanofibrous membrane (NNM) fabricated by electrospinning technique. Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models (R2 = 0.99) were obeyed for BPA adsorption, which indicates the monolayer adsorption of BPA and also surface heterogeneity of NNM. The adsorption kinetics of BPA was followed pseudo second order rate (R2 = 0.89–0.99), which suggests the occurrence of rapid adsorption rate through interaction of surface functional groups present in NNM. The maximum adsorption of BPA (91.3 mg g−1) was attained at 30 °C. The hydroxyl groups of BPA form hydrogen bonding with carbonyl groups of NNM during the adsorptive removal process. Reusability study confirmed a much better stability of NNM in the recyclic application. Finally, this study suggests that NNM might be an outstanding nano-adsorbent for the emerging contaminants removal, including BPA from drinking water sources.