The design of a bench-scale adsorbent column based on nanoclay-loaded electrospun fiber membrane for the removal of arsenic in wastewater

This study presents a bench-scale study on the dynamic removal of arsenic from wastewater by an adsorption membrane consisting of a polycaprolactone matrix with iron-intercalated montmorillonite filler. A 2K factorial design of experiment was employed to study the effect of different adsorption parameters; namely, flow rate, initial influent concentration, and thickness of adsorbent sheets on breakthrough time. Longer breakthrough times were associated with low flow rates, low initial influent concentrations, and thick nanofiber membrane. The bed depth service time (BDST) approach was used to model adsorption kinetics. An empirical equation for predicting service time of the adsorbent membrane was obtained and was used to design the bench-scale column. The performance of the adsorption column was accurately predicted by the BDST model. This practical, nanocomposite-based adsorption column offers a promising alternative wastewater treatment for addressing arsenic contamination in water.