Synergy effect in blend Orange G/Rhodamine B ultrafiltration, using natural bentonite-based membrane

Abstract Attempting to reduce issues with dumping and water pollution, bio-based membrane material (MB1000), based on bentonite was elaborated for application in tangential ultrafiltration. For this, morphological properties, textural properties, and chemical structure of the elaborated membrane material were established using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analyses. Water permeability, chemical resistance, as well as point of zero charge of the membrane material were also investigated. The studied membrane material has a mesoporous structure, with a pore size of 7.20 nm and a water permeability of 318.06 L/h.m2.bar. The effect of transmembrane material pressure, pH solution, and concentration on Orange G (OG) and Rhodamine B (RB) dye rejection efficiency was examined and hence optimized. Besides, a mixture of RB and OG dyes was tested for membrane material ultrafiltration in a simultaneous system (RB/OG). Remarkably, an enhancement of the rejection results was noticed for the two dyes (ROG = 94.33%, RRB = 89.38%) resulting from a synergic effect of hydrogen bonding as well as electrostatic interactions generated from functional groups of the molecules dyes.