Green Flexible Polyurethane Foam as a Potent Support for Fe-Si Adsorbent
by
Afiqah Ahmad 1
, Siti Nurul Ain Md. Jamil 1,2,*, Thomas Shean Yaw Choong 3, Abdul Halim Abdullah 1,4, Mohd Sufri Mastuli 5, Nurhanisah Othman 1 and NurNazurah Jiman 1
Afiqah Ahmad 1, Siti Nurul Ain Md. Jamil 1,2,*, Thomas Shean Yaw Choong 3, Abdul Halim Abdullah 1,4, Mohd Sufri Mastuli 5, Nurhanisah Othman 1 and NurNazurah Jiman 1
1
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia
2
Centre of Foundation Studies for Agricultural Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia
3
Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia
4
Institute of Advanced Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia
5
Centre of Nanomaterials Research, Institute of Science, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam 40450, Selangor, Malaysia
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Polymers 2019, 11(12), 2011; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym11122011
Received: 26 August 2019 / Revised: 13 October 2019 / Accepted: 18 October 2019 / Published: 4 December 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer-Based Materials as Ecological Adsorbents for Environmental Protection)
This paper describes the preparation, characterisation, and potential application of flexible palm oil-based polyurethane foam (PUF) as a support for iron-silica (Fe-Si) adsorbent. Fe-Si/polyurethane composite (Fe-Si/PUC) was prepared by impregnating Fe-Si adsorbent onto the surface of PUF by using a novel immersion-drying method. Morphological analysis of Fe-Si/PUC proved that Fe-Si was successfully impregnated onto the surface of PUF. Compression test and thermogravimetric analysis were carried out to determine the flexibility and thermal stability of Fe-Si/PUC, respectively. The Fe-Si/PUC removed 90.0% of 10 ppm methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solution in 60 min. The reusability study showed that Fe-Si/PUC removed 55.9% of MB on the seventh cycle. Hence, the synthesis of Fe-Si/PUC opens up a new path of implementing palm oil-based PUF to assist in the recovery of an adsorbent for environmental clean-up. The mechanism of physical interaction during the impregnation of Fe-Si adsorbent onto PUF was proposed in this paper.
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Keywords:
flexible foam; polyurethane; support; wastewater treatment; dye adsorption; palm oil; iron silica; methylene blue; reusability
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MDPI and ACS Style
Ahmad, A.; Jamil, S.N.A.M.; Shean Yaw Choong, T.; Abdullah, A.H.; Mastuli, M.S.; Othman, N.; Jiman, N. Green Flexible Polyurethane Foam as a Potent Support for Fe-Si Adsorbent. Polymers 2019, 11, 2011.
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