A New Approach to Remove Anionic Dye from Aqueous Solutions: Encapsulation Triggered by Ionotropic Gelation of CMC

Abstract

In the present study, encapsulation was used as an efficient and rapid removal method for RB-250 from aqueous solutions. This technique involves the simultaneous formation of CMC particles and the entrapment of the anionic dye RB-250 within these particles. TEM and Zeta analyses of dye encapsulated CMC particles showed needle type agglomeration of particles. Various parameters were investigated to optimize the RB-250 removal efficiency of CMC by encapsulation. These studies revealed that temperature, pH, time and stirring rate have negligible effect on the encapsulation of RB-250. It is quite remarkable that pH, which is a parameter that significantly affects the removal efficiency in the removal of charged dyes, has a negligible effect in the proposed technique. RB-250 encapsulation capacity of CMC nanoparticles was determined as 2809 mg RB-250/g CMC.